Breadbasket of the world: Brazil leads exports of seven foods

According to the report distributed to BTG Pactual clients, Brazil is the “breadbasket of the planet”. As a result, the country currently leads global exports of at least seven foods.

Also according to the bank’s survey, Brazil has become the world’s largest exporter of soybeans (56% of total exports), corn (31%), coffee (27%), sugar (44%), orange juice ( 76%), beef (24%) and chicken meat (33%).

Additionally, it is the vice leader in sales of two other products: ethanol and cotton.

With just over 200 million inhabitants, Brazil currently produces enough food to meet the calorie needs of approximately 900 million people. This equates to 11% of the world’s population.

The report also cites a number of figures to demonstrate Brazil’s “miracle of tropical agriculture”.

Wheat production has risen from 47 million tons in 1977 to the current 312 million tons.

Agricultural productivity has increased 58% since 2000; in the same period growth was 37% in emerging countries and 32% in advanced economies.

BTG Pactual noted that agricultural financing has migrated, over time, from an official subsidy-based profile to a market-based one.

For the 2023/24 harvest, 67% of financial resources are private and only 33% come from the government.

According to the bank’s survey, only 8% of the Brazilian territory is occupied by crops: in Argentina 14%, in the United States and China 18%, in France 58%, in India 61%.

“Brazilian pastures are still poor in terms of quality and productivity,” the report reads.

The document estimates that 40% of the 73 million hectares used for livestock farming are “moderately or severely degraded.

They can then be converted into plantations and further increase the cultivated area.

According to the US Department of Agriculture, USDA, with production approaching 156 million tons of soybeans, Brazil leads the exports of this type of grain. About 42% of all soy produced in the world is Brazilian.

Brazil has created a very strong culture of agricultural production and export, which makes its position in the ranking unsurprising. Recent years have been marked by many investments and technologies in the sector, making the system much more productive and profitable.

In addition to production, approximately 7.8% of all grain exports in the world are made by Brazil, giving it the title of the world’s largest soybean exporter.

In 2023, Brazil became the world’s largest corn exporter, surpassing the United States. Responsible for 27% of all corn traded internationally, the country also plays a crucial role in the global grain market.

Brazil leads the ranking as the largest coffee producer in the world: 36.8% of the world’s coffee is produced here in our country. With a long tradition and a robust coffee industry, the country plays a vital role in the global coffee market.

The largest coffee producing state in Brazil is Minas Gerais, which is responsible for more than 50% of the national production: there were 27.8 million bags in the 2023 harvest. The country is a real powerhouse in the production of the product, with little more than 62 million 60 kilo bags produced in the 2022/2023 harvest.

Brazil exports 35 to 38 percent of the world’s sugar trade, a volume well above domestic consumption. Sugar is an essential product, whose reach goes far beyond the limits of our kitchen pantry.

Sugar plays a crucial role in the food industry, present in around 80% of processed foods and in an impressive variety of over 100,000 different products.

According to consultancy JOBeconomia, sugar production by the world’s largest producer and exporter in 2023/24 was estimated at a record 42.7 million tonnes, up from 40.4 million in the initial forecast and 37 million from the previous cycle.

According to the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), the world’s two largest exporters are Brazil and Australia. In 2024, the projection is that global beef exports will reach 11.9 million tonnes, growing by 1%.

Brazil will maintain global leadership in beef exports in 2024. Brazilian slaughterhouses are expected to ship 2.85 million tonnes of beef protein, 100,000 tonnes more than they exported last year.

Chicken meat exports from Brazil, the world’s largest exporter, ended 2023 at a record 5.138 million tonnes, up 6.6% from 2022. This signals a positive trend for 2024, he said. stated the ABPA (Brazilian Association of Animal Proteins).

On the revenue side, shipment growth in 2023 was lower due to lower prices, only 0.4% compared to 2022, but enough for a new record of $9.796 billion in 12 months.

Brazil leads the market, also being the largest producer of oranges and the largest exporter of fruit juice, which is a commodity, accounting for 75% of the global market for the product.

The country has 56 thousand rural properties farming in an area of ​​568 thousand hectares with 166 million productive trees, with São Paulo and the Triângulo Mineiro, the largest producers of this slice with 387 thousand hectares, according to IBGE