Brazilian agricultural exports reach US$ 16 billion in March 2023
The Brazilian agribusiness trade balance data for March show how our exports keep growing year after year. This month, the value of goods traded abroad reached US$ 16 billion, a 10.6% increase when compared to the same period in 2022. The results followed a growing trend of the entire Brazilian trade balance. In all, at the month’s end, agriculture and livestock products had a surplus of US$ 10.9 billion.
In March, the leading product in our agribusiness export line was soybean, which made up 46% of total exports and yielded US$ 7.3 billion in revenue, an increase of 13.6% compared to the same period in 2022. The second most exported product was soybean bran, which saw an increase of 45.5% when compared to March 2022 and yielded US$ 1.1 billion. The other notable exports in the Brazilian agribusiness line were fresh chicken meat, cellulose, and raw sugarcane.
Brazil’s main export destination in March 2023 was China, with a share of 41.4%, followed by the European Union (12.3%) and the United States (4.9%). Other countries also had remarkable shares: Japan (2.5%), Thailand (2.1%), Turkey (2.1%), South Korea (1.9%), Algeria (1.7%), Bangladesh (1.6%), and Argentina (1.6%).
Some destination countries showed a significant performance in March 2023 compared to March 2022. Among these countries, the highlights are Japan (+103.5%), driven by corn and soybean exports (an increase of US$ 86.3 million and US$ 53 million respectively); and Argentina (+74.2%), driven by soybean exports (an increase of US$ 98.5 million).
Trade balance highlight: fresh or dried bananas
Brazil is one of the world’s main producers of bananas. In 2021, according to data from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), Brazilian production was the fourth largest in the world, only behind India, China, and Indonesia.
However, as Brazil is the world’s largest banana consumer, according to EMBRAPA, it does not hold a prominent position in international trade; being the 18th largest exporter. Guatemala leads the ranking.
In 2022, Brazilian banana exports totaled US$ 37.3 million, a record value in the analysis since 2012, representing an increase of 0.6% compared to 2021. In terms of volume, 84 thousand tons were exported in 2022, 22.4% lower than the previous year. This shows the valuation of the international price of the product.
In 2023, banana exports from Brazil reached, in the accumulated worth from January to March, US$ 10.1 million, the third-best result in the analyzed period, 2013-2023. This performance is 12% lower than that seen in the same period in 2022. In 2023, the three main destinations for banana exports are Argentina (39.9% of the total); Uruguay (30.8%); and the European Union (26.5%).