What does Brazil produce and export?
Brazil ranks in the top ten producers of 55 commodities: coffee (#1, 30% of world output in 2024), niobium (#1, 93% of world output in 2025), orange juice (#1, 23% of world output in 2024), oranges (#1, 23% of world output in 2024), sisal (#1, 40% of world output in 2024), soybeans (#1, 36% of world output in 2024) and more. It is a top-ten exporter of beef (#1, 27% of world export value in 2024), chicken (#1, 26% of world export value in 2024), coffee (#1, 35% of world export value in 2024), cotton (#1, 30% of world export value in 2024), niobium (#1, 75% of world export value in 2024) and more.
Brazil sits across the tropics with reliable summer rain, flat land and, since the 1970s, the soil science needed to farm it. The cerrado, a savanna covering much of the interior, was long dismissed as too acidic for crops until lime and phosphate correction and tropical cultivars bred by the state agricultural research agency Embrapa opened it. That is the main reason Brazil grew 36% of the world's soybeans in 2024 (FAOSTAT) and supplied 54% of world soybean export value in 2024 (CEPII BACI).
Coffee and sugar are older. Portuguese planters built sugar mills in the northeast in the sixteenth century, and coffee spread through the deep red terra roxa soils of Minas Gerais and São Paulo in the nineteenth. Both survived the end of slavery, land turnover and repeated frost and drought cycles by moving inland and south. In 2024 Brazil produced 30% of the world's green coffee (FAOSTAT) and sold 35% of world green-coffee export value (CEPII BACI). For sugar, the mills are dual-purpose: since the Proálcool program of 1975 they choose each season between crystal sugar and cane ethanol, which links a food price to a fuel price. Brazil produced 22% of the world's sugar in 2023 (FAOSTAT) and 47% of world sugar export value in 2024 (CEPII BACI).
Cotton is the newest of the big crops, grown mostly as a second planting after soybeans on the same Mato Grosso fields. Brazil produced 12% of world cotton in 2023 (FAOSTAT) and 30% of world cotton export value in 2024 (CEPII BACI).
The mineral half of the economy rests on two geological accidents. The Iron Quadrangle and the Carajás range in the Amazon hold unusually high-grade hematite, moved to Atlantic terminals on dedicated company railways; Brazil mined 16% of world iron ore in 2025 (USGS) and took 20% of world iron-ore export value in 2024 (CEPII BACI). Offshore, the pre-salt discoveries of 2006 put large oil accumulations under a thick salt layer in deep water off Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo. Brazil produced 3.9% of world crude oil in 2025 (Energy Institute) and held 3.5% of world crude export value in 2024 (CEPII BACI).
What does Brazil produce?
| Commodity | World rank | Share of world | Production | Year | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Coffee | 1 | 30% | 3.4 million t | 2024 | FAOSTAT |
| Niobium | 1 | 93% | 104,000 t | 2025 | USGS MCS |
| Orange juice | 1 | 23% | 15.7 million t | 2024 | FAOSTAT |
| Oranges | 1 | 23% | 15.7 million t | 2024 | FAOSTAT |
| Sisal | 1 | 40% | 93,261 t | 2024 | FAOSTAT |
| Soybeans | 1 | 36% | 144.5 million t | 2024 | FAOSTAT |
| Sugar | 1 | 22% | 42 million t | 2023 | FAOSTAT |
| Beef | 2 | 15% | 10.2 million t | 2024 | FAOSTAT |
| Beryllium | 2 | 19% | 80 t | 2025 | USGS MCS |
| Iron ore | 2 | 16% | 420 million t | 2025 | USGS MCS |
| Logs | 2 | 10% | 199.7 million m3 | 2024 | faostat_fo |
| Silicon | 2 | 3.9% | 180,000 t | 2025 | USGS MCS |
| Chicken | 3 | 11% | 13.7 million t | 2024 | FAOSTAT |
| Corn | 3 | 9.4% | 115 million t | 2024 | FAOSTAT |
| Cotton | 3 | 12% | 2.9 million t | 2023 | FAOSTAT |
| Magnesium | 3 | 1.8% | 20,000 t | 2025 | USGS MCS |
| Pepper | 3 | 13% | 124,925 t | 2024 | FAOSTAT |
| Pork | 3 | 4.3% | 5.4 million t | 2024 | FAOSTAT |
| Tobacco | 3 | 11% | 637,749 t | 2024 | FAOSTAT |
| Vanadium | 3 | 4.7% | 5,300 t | 2025 | USGS MCS |
| Bauxite | 4 | 7.5% | 33 million t | 2025 | USGS MCS |
| Graphite | 4 | 3.6% | 65,000 t | 2025 | USGS MCS |
| Milk | 4 | 4.7% | 36.8 million t | 2024 | FAOSTAT |
| Pineapples | 4 | 7.6% | 2.2 million t | 2024 | FAOSTAT |
| Tantalum | 4 | 7.6% | 190 t | 2025 | USGS MCS |
| Tin | 4 | 9.7% | 28,000 t | 2025 | USGS MCS |
| Bananas | 5 | 5.1% | 7 million t | 2024 | FAOSTAT |
| Cassava | 5 | 5.6% | 19.1 million t | 2024 | FAOSTAT |
| Chromium | 5 | 3.9% | 2 million t | 2025 | USGS MCS |
| Eggs | 5 | 4.1% | 3.7 million t | 2024 | FAOSTAT |
| Manganese | 5 | 4% | 800,000 t | 2025 | USGS MCS |
| Mangoes | 5 | 3.9% | 2.4 million t | 2024 | FAOSTAT |
| Plywood | 5 | 3.2% | 3.7 million m3 | 2024 | faostat_fo |
| Lithium | 6 | 4.1% | 12,000 t | 2025 | USGS MCS |
| Avocados | 7 | 3.8% | 427,457 t | 2024 | FAOSTAT |
| Cashews | 7 | 3.8% | 159,212 t | 2024 | FAOSTAT |
| Cocoa | 7 | 5.7% | 297,509 t | 2024 | FAOSTAT |
| Fluorspar | 7 | 1% | 100,000 t | 2025 | USGS MCS |
| Honey | 7 | 3.7% | 67,314 t | 2024 | FAOSTAT |
| Nickel | 7 | 1.8% | 70,000 t | 2025 | USGS MCS |
| Oats | 7 | 4.9% | 1.1 million t | 2024 | FAOSTAT |
| Sesame seed | 7 | 6% | 399,400 t | 2024 | FAOSTAT |
| Sorghum | 7 | 6.4% | 4.1 million t | 2024 | FAOSTAT |
| Phosphate rock | 8 | 2% | 5 million t | 2025 | USGS MCS |
| Silk | 8 | 0.3% | 1,581 t | 2024 | FAOSTAT |
| Aluminum | 9 | 1.6% | 1.2 million t | 2025 | USGS MCS |
| Crude oil | 9 | 3.9% | 3,881 thousand barrels daily | 2025 | Energy Institute |
| Palm oil | 9 | 0.8% | 637,353 t | 2023 | FAOSTAT |
| Rare earths | 9 | 0.5% | 2,000 t | 2025 | USGS MCS |
| Sawnwood | 9 | 2.2% | 9.7 million m3 | 2024 | faostat_fo |
| Shrimp | 9 | 1.5% | 184,138 t | 2024 | fao_fisheries |
| Steel | 9 | 1.8% | 35 million t | 2025 | USGS MCS |
| Tomatoes | 9 | 2.3% | 4.4 million t | 2024 | FAOSTAT |
| Jute | 10 | <0.1% | 926 t | 2024 | FAOSTAT |
| Peanuts | 10 | 1.4% | 806,064 t | 2024 | FAOSTAT |
What does Brazil export?
| Rank | Commodity | Export value (US$) | Share of world |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Crude oil | $45.9 billion | 3.5% |
| 2 | Soybeans | $43.2 billion | 54% |
| 3 | Iron ore | $31.3 billion | 20% |
| 4 | Sugar | $20.5 billion | 47% |
| 5 | Coffee | $11.7 billion | 35% |
| 6 | Beef | $10.1 billion | 27% |
| 7 | Chicken | $9.2 billion | 26% |
| 8 | Corn | $8.3 billion | 18% |
| 9 | Cotton | $5.1 billion | 30% |
| 10 | Copper | $4.2 billion | 3.9% |
| Rest of world | $0 | <0.1% |
Brazil's own tracked-export mix
| Commodity | World rank | Share of world exports | Export value | Year |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Beef | 1 | 27% | $10.1 billion | 2024 |
| Chicken | 1 | 26% | $9.2 billion | 2024 |
| Coffee | 1 | 35% | $11.7 billion | 2024 |
| Cotton | 1 | 30% | $5.1 billion | 2024 |
| Niobium | 1 | 75% | $2.6 billion | 2024 |
| Orange juice | 1 | 48% | $890.4 million | 2024 |
| Soybeans | 1 | 54% | $43.2 billion | 2024 |
| Sugar | 1 | 47% | $20.5 billion | 2024 |
| Tobacco | 1 | 20% | $2.8 billion | 2024 |
| Corn | 2 | 18% | $8.3 billion | 2024 |
| Iron ore | 2 | 20% | $31.3 billion | 2024 |
| Bauxite | 3 | 2.1% | $241.5 million | 2024 |
| Mangoes | 3 | 10% | $421.8 million | 2024 |
| Silicon | 3 | 12% | $477.3 million | 2024 |
| Ginger | 4 | 6.2% | $80.5 million | 2024 |
| Plywood | 4 | 5% | $846.7 million | 2024 |
| Silk | 4 | 5.1% | $18.8 million | 2024 |
| Sisal | 4 | 5.7% | $39.1 million | 2024 |
| Copper | 5 | 3.9% | $4.2 billion | 2024 |
| Graphite | 5 | 4.3% | $23.1 million | 2024 |
| Manganese | 5 | 1.4% | $88.7 million | 2024 |
| Peanuts | 5 | 7.8% | $365.9 million | 2024 |
| Pork | 5 | 7.8% | $2.9 billion | 2024 |
| Sorghum | 5 | 1.5% | $41 million | 2024 |
| Pepper | 6 | 4.9% | $295.9 million | 2024 |
| Sesame seed | 6 | 4.8% | $375.4 million | 2024 |
| Tin | 6 | 4.7% | $304.1 million | 2024 |
| Magnesium | 7 | 0.7% | $6.2 million | 2024 |
| Honey | 8 | 4.4% | $101 million | 2024 |
| Yams | 8 | 4.3% | $10.8 million | 2024 |
| Crude oil | 9 | 3.5% | $45.9 billion | 2024 |
| Rice | 10 | 1.5% | $588.4 million | 2024 |
Top-ten importer of
- Phosphate fertilizers: #1, 32% of world imports, $1.1 billion (2024)
- Potash: #1, 20% of world imports, $4 billion (2024)
- Urea: #1, 14% of world imports, $2.9 billion (2024)
- Coconut oil: #6, 4% of world imports, $318.9 million (2024)
- Jute: #6, 2.4% of world imports, $5 million (2024)
- Olive oil: #6, 4.7% of world imports, $759.9 million (2024)
- Apples: #8, 3.4% of world imports, $274 million (2024)
- Barley: #8, 3.1% of world imports, $286.2 million (2024)
- Boron: #8, 2.4% of world imports, $28.2 million (2024)
- Hazelnuts: #8, 3% of world imports, $68.4 million (2024)
- Milk: #8, 3% of world imports, $653.4 million (2024)
- Salmon: #9, 5.2% of world imports, $822.2 million (2024)
- Wheat: #9, 3% of world imports, $1.7 billion (2024)
- Zirconium: #9, 1.7% of world imports, $29.6 million (2024)
- Bismuth: #10, 1.8% of world imports, $909,875 (2024)
- Molybdenum: #10, 4.7% of world imports, $379.4 million (2024)
- Phosphate rock: #10, 3% of world imports, $158.2 million (2024)
- Rhodium: #10, 2.6% of world imports, $191.7 million (2024)
Sources: FAOSTAT (crops and livestock), USGS Mineral Commodity Summaries (minerals), Energy Institute Statistical Review (energy) for production; CEPII BACI for trade. Ranks count only the commodities on this site.
Brazil commodity by commodity
Brazil in the pattern reports
What Brazil uses
Brazil had about 211 million people and a food supply of 3,423 kilocalories per person a day in FAO's 2023 food balance sheets. Its eight largest supplies among the commodities tracked there:
| Commodity | Domestic supply | Share of world | kg per person | Self-sufficiency | Imported |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Corn | 71.1 million tonnes | 5.9% | 29 | 171% | 2.1% |
| Soybeans | 59.2 million tonnes | 16% | 0.0 | 302% | 0.4% |
| Milk | 40.6 million tonnes | 3.7% | 163 | 90% | 10% |
| Cassava | 18.4 million tonnes | 5.4% | 32 | 101% | <0.1% |
| Wheat | 12.6 million tonnes | 1.5% | 55 | 79% | 48% |
| Chicken | 10.0 million tonnes | 7.3% | 48 | 149% | <0.1% |
| Rice | 9.8 million tonnes | 1.3% | 37 | 104% | 13% |
| Beef | 8.2 million tonnes | 11% | 39 | 135% | 0.7% |
Who supplies Brazil
- Single-supplier markets. Brazil buys half or more of its imports from one country in 14 of 24 import markets of $250 million or more, among them natural gas from United States (51%, $4.6 billion); wheat from Argentina (62%, $1.7 billion); salmon from Chile (100%, $822 million); olive oil from Portugal (60%, $760 million); rice from Paraguay (50%, $690 million); milk from Argentina (52%, $653 million). Import dependency.
How long Brazil's own reserves would last
- Niobium: Brazil's reserves are about 135 years of its own output at the current rate (93% of world output, 66% of world reserves), against 191 years for the world.
- Tin: Brazil's reserves are about 25 years of its own output at the current rate (9.7% of world output, 12% of world reserves), against 21 years for the world.
- Bauxite: Brazil's reserves are about 52 years of its own output at the current rate (7.5% of world output, 5.9% of world reserves), against 66 years for the world.
- Vanadium: Brazil's reserves are about 18 years of its own output at the current rate (4.7% of world output, 0.4% of world reserves), against 189 years for the world.
- Lithium: Brazil's reserves are about 45 years of its own output at the current rate (4.1% of world output, 1.5% of world reserves), against 128 years for the world.
Brazil and critical minerals
Brazil is the largest producer of 1 mineral on a US or EU critical list, each at 20% or more of world output: niobium (93%, 2025). Source: the concentration report on USGS, FAOSTAT and Energy Institute production.
Downloads and citation
This country's rankings as JSON · PDF summary. Cite as: Commodity Origins, "What does Brazil produce and export?", https://commodityorigins.com/countries/BRA/ (CC BY 4.0).
Data updated 22 October 2026.