Xifres de comerç exterior de Brasil

Foreign Trade in Figures

Although foreign trade only represented 32.4% of its GDP in 2020 (World Bank), Brazil is among the world's 30 largest exporters and importers and the country has an enormous economic potential. Brazil mainly exports soya beans (13.7%), iron ores (12.3%), petroleum oils (9.4%), cane or beet sugar (4.2%), and frozen bovine meat (3.2%); while its main imports are petroleum oils (4.8%), parts and accessories for tractors and motor vehicles (3.2%), electrical apparatus for line telephony (2.8%), electronic integrated circuits and microassemblies (2.4%), and floating vessels (2.3%). According to IMF Foreign Trade Forecasts, the volume of exports of goods and services increased by 8.9% in 2021 and is expected to decrease to 4.1% in 2022, while the volume of imports of goods and services increased by 10.6% in 2021 and is expected to decrease to 5% in 2022

The country's main trade partners are China, the United States, Argentina, Germany, the Netherlands, Canada, South Korea, Mercosur and the EU. Despite being the largest economy in Latin America and the ninth in the world, Brazil is still relatively closed compared to other large economies, with a low trade penetration and a low number of exporters relative to the population (its absolute number of exporters is roughly the same as that of Norway, a country with approximately 5 million people, compared to Brazil’s 213 million). However, the country has been implementing changes to improve trade, such as reducing the time for documentary compliance for both exporting and importing by enhancing its electronic data interchange system. In 2021, Brazilian exports to the EU grew by 17%, a rate which was only surpassed by China, making Brazil the ninth largest supplier to the European Union. Additionally, given that the EU is Brazil's second-biggest trading partner, they are working on a free trade agreement - as a part of the EU's Association Agreement negotiations with the Mercosur countries.

Brazil’s trade balance is structurally positive, but has declined in recent years due to a drop in the prices of raw materials, an increase in energy imports and a decline in the competitiveness of Brazilian products. According to the latest available data from WTO, in 2020, Brazil imported USD 166 billion and exported USD 209 billion in goods, while in services the country imported USD 47 billion and exported USD 27 billion. As a result, trade balance of goods and services amounted to USD 11,7 billion. As the world’s agricultural super power, Brazil conducts a very particular foreign trade policy, aiming at conquering markets while preserving at all cost its influential position.