Brazil Agribusiness Exports Hit Record $12 Billion in February

Brazil’s agribusiness exports smashed yet another monthly record in February, hitting $12.05 billion and producing a trade surplus of $10.5 billion for the sector alone. The result — up 7.4% from February 2025 — was driven by a 9% jump in shipped volumes rather than higher prices, underscoring the sheer productive capacity of the world’s largest food exporter as it heads into a harvest season projected to break all previous records. This is part of The Rio Times’ daily coverage of Brazil financial news English and Latin American financial markets.

Brazil Agribusiness Exports Powered by Soy and Meat

The soy complex dominated, contributing $3.78 billion — 31.4% of total agribusiness revenue — with a 16.4% increase over the same month last year. The surge reflects the early stages of what Conab projects will be a record 177-million-ton soybean harvest, a crop that has benefited from favorable rainfall across most of the Center-West after early La Niña scares. Animal proteins followed at $2.7 billion, with a striking 22.5% year-on-year increase, as beef, poultry, and pork all gained share in markets from the Middle East to Southeast Asia.

Forest products contributed $1.27 billion and coffee added $1.12 billion, the latter still riding historically elevated international prices that have lifted Brazilian coffee revenue by double digits for two consecutive years. The sugar and ethanol complex rounded out the top five at $861 million. Perhaps most notable was the diversification: corn distillers’ dried grains (DDG) exports surged 164%, orange essential oil rose 29%, and meat meals hit all-time highs — evidence that Brazil’s export portfolio is broadening well beyond the traditional soy-and-beef playbook.

China Remains Dominant but New Risks Emerge

China absorbed $3.6 billion of February’s shipments, a 30.5% share that reinforces its position as the indispensable buyer of Brazilian agriculture. The European Union followed at $1.8 billion (15.2%) and the United States at $803 million (7%). But beneath the headline numbers, two structural risks loom. China recently imposed import quotas on Brazilian beef capped at 1.106 million tons for 2026, with a 55% tariff on volumes above the limit — a significant constraint given that China took 53% of Brazil’s record $8.8 billion in beef exports last year. Meanwhile, the U.S. Supreme Court’s February ruling that struck down most of Trump’s emergency tariffs has injected fresh uncertainty into commodity trade flows, even as a replacement 10% blanket tariff took effect.

Record Harvests Meet Market Diversification

Agriculture Minister Carlos Fávaro framed the result as proof that Brazil can simultaneously feed its domestic market and expand its exportable surplus. Trade Secretary Luís Rua pointed to nine new market openings in February alone, bringing the total to 544 since the start of 2023 — an aggressive diversification campaign that has already generated an estimated $4 billion in additional foreign exchange. Full-year agribusiness exports hit a record $169.2 billion in 2025, and if February’s pace holds, 2026 is on track to surpass it comfortably, as The Rio Times has tracked throughout the current export boom.

The sector’s strength matters beyond agriculture. Agribusiness accounted for 45.8% of all Brazilian exports in February, making it the country’s most reliable source of trade surplus and a critical pillar of currency stability for the real. With a record harvest underway and global protein demand still rising, the bigger question is whether Brazil can keep finding buyers at prices that justify continued expansion — or whether a potential soy glut and tightening Chinese quotas will test the limits of even the world’s most prolific farming machine.