The Brazilian agribusiness trade balance data for August are already available. That month, the worth of goods traded abroad reached US$ 14 billion, a 10.6% decrease compared to the same period in 2023. The results followed a downturn of the entire Brazilian trade balance. Still, at the month’s end, agriculture and livestock products had a surplus of US$ 12.4 billion.
In August, the leading product in our agribusiness export line was soybean, which comprised 25.1% of total exports and yielded US$ 3.5 billion in revenue, a decrease of 16.4% compared to the same period in 2023. The second most exported product was raw sugarcane, which increased 2.5% compared to August 2023 and brought in US$ 1.6 billion. The other remarkable exports in the Brazilian agribusiness line were corn and fresh beef.
Brazil’s main export destination in August 2024 was China, with a share of 27.4%, followed by the European Union (16%) and the United States (6.7%). Other countries also had remarkable shares: South Korea (2.9%). Indonesia (2.4%), Egypt (2.2%), Japan (2.1%), Vietnam (2.1%), the United Arab Emirates (2%), and Saudi Arabia (1.9%).
Some destination countries showed a significant performance in August 2024 compared to the previous year. Among them, the highlights are Egypt (+54.5%), driven by corn exports (an increase of US$ 24.1 million); and South Korea (+18%), also driven by corn sales (an increase of US$ 77.5 million).
Trade balance highlight: Fresh beef
Estimates by the National Supply Company (CONAB) show that Brazil’s beef production will reach around 10.2 million tons in 2024. This makes Brazil the world’s second-largest beef producer, behind the United States. In terms of exports, Brazil is the world leader.
By 2024, CONAB estimates that Brazilian beef exports should reach more than 3.4 million tons. In 2024, until August, Brazilian exports of fresh beef amounted to US$ 7.1 billion, an increase of 20.3% compared to the same period in 2023. Regarding volume, the increase was 29.7%, rising from 1.2 million tons in January to August 2023 to 1.6 million tons in the same period of 2024.
The main destination for exports of these products is China, which accounts for 49.1% of exports in worth and 49.8% of exports in volume.