Price difference of camera prices in Brazil and USA - can they be justified? | News | Forum

I have been comparing prices of a Canon EOS Rebel T2i (550D) in Brazil and USA. The shops used to compare the prices were the official Canon shop in the Brazilian and USA Canon websites

Cost in USA =$699
Cost in Brazil = $1963.04 (equivalent)

Import tax is 60% in Brazil and courier costs are also included.
However, the mark-up seems excessive to me. So, I wrote to both of the Canon websites to ask for an explanation of the price difference. Not unexpectedly I received no replies.

In my opinion the high cost in Brazil amounts to financial exploitation.
Any comments or explanations?

References:
http://shop.usa.canon.com/weba….._245003_-1

http://www.xe.com/ucc/convert/
699.00 USD = 1,424.32 BRL

http://www.loja.canon.com.br/c…..56-is.aspx

http://www.xe.com/ucc/convert/…..038;To=USD

1,963.04 USD = 3,999.99 BRL