The Brazilian agribusiness trade balance data for July show how our exports keep increasing year after year. This month, the value of goods traded abroad reached US$ 14.2 billion, a 0.1% decrease when compared to the same period in 2022. At the month’s end, agriculture and livestock products had a surplus of US$ 8.9 billion.
In July, the leading product in our agribusiness export line was soybean, which made up 33.5% of total exports and yielded US$ 4.8 billion in revenue, an increase of 1% compared to the same period in 2022. The second most exported product was raw sugarcane, which saw an increase of 23.2% when compared to July 2022 and yielded US$ 1.2 billion. The other notable exports in the Brazilian agribusiness line were soybean bran, corn, and cellulose.
Brazil’s main export destination in July 2023 was China, with a share of 36.3%, followed by the European Union (12.5%), and the United States (5.6%). Other countries also had remarkable shares: Japan (3%), South Korea (2.6%), Argentina (2.6%), Indonesia (2.5%), Mexico (2%), Vietnam (1.9%), and Thailand (1.8%).
Some destination countries showed a significant performance in July 2023 compared to July 2022. Among these countries, the highlights are Argentina (+237%), driven by soybean exports (an increase of US$ 525.9 million); and Indonesia (+81.7%), also driven by soybean bran exports (an increase of US$ 76.5 million).
Trade balance highlight: orange juice
Brazil is the world’s largest exporter of orange juice, accounting for more than 70% of global exports by volume, according to the US Department of Agriculture’s “Citrus” report. In 2022, Brazilian exports totaled approximately 1.3 million tons. The total worth amounted to US$ 2.0 billion, an increase of 21.7% from the previous year. Year to date to July 2023, Brazilian orange juice exports totaled US$1.2 billion.
The main destination for Brazilian orange juice exports was the European Union, which demanded 58.8% of the total exported by Brazil in 2022, i.e. US$1.2 billion. The second main destination was the United States, which absorbed 27.2% of Brazilian exports.
In 2022, compared to the previous year, exports to the European Union increased 13.2%, while exports to the United States increased faster, +62.5%. Year to date to July 2023, exports to the European bloc fell by 1.8% compared to the same period in 2022. On the other hand, in the same comparison, exports to the United States increased 88.2%.