* Gov't to increase import taxes on 100 products
* Tax hike heightens concern over growing protectionism
* Move aims to help struggling local industries
* Rousseff scrambling to lower Brazil's high output costs (Adds fresh Mantega comment, analyst comment, details and context)
By Luciana Otoni
BRASILIA, Sept 4 (Reuters) - Brazil will raise import tariffs on 100 foreign products to help struggling local industries, Finance Minister Guido Mantega said on Tuesday, in a move that could amplify concerns over growing protectionism in the world's No. 6 economy.
This is the latest in a string of steps taken by President Dilma Rousseff to fend off competition from foreign producers, which has hit local industries and dragged down an economy that until recently was the star among emerging market nations.
The temporary increase - initially for a year - in levies will apply to products ranging from iron pipes to glass and bus tires. The rate will reach 25 percent for most of those products, an increase from the low teens.
"We live in a time when the world market is shrinking and exporters flood Brazil, which is one of the few growing markets, and our industry is being harmed by this," Mantega told reporters in Brasilia.
Brazil has unapologetically raised barriers on foreign goods it considers a threat to its local industry, angering trade partners already struggling to sell their products amid the global slowdown.
Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/09/04/brazil-industry-tax-idUSL2E8K4DJN20120904
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