Brazil’s June agribusiness export revenue grew 25% over last year

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Brazilian agribusiness export sales maintained a firm performance in June. They reached US$12.1 billion, up 25% compared to the same month last year, when the amount reached US$9.69 billion, according to data from the Foreign Trade Secretariat (Secex) of the Ministry of Economy released on Tuesday, 13.

The results represented a new record for the month and were helped, mainly, by increasing international prices for agricultural producers. The price index grew 30.4% compared to June 2020, while the number of shipments fell 4.1%.

Following the trend of the last few months, the sector’s share in the country’s total exports fell to 43.1% from 55.1% in June 2020. China is still the main destination, responsible for the purchase of 38.7% of agribusiness exports in June.

Agribusiness import costs increased 54.2% in June, to US$ 1.28 billion, compared to US$ 826.7 million in the same month of 2020. The trade surplus in June reached R$10.8 billion, a 22% increase when comparing the periods.

Soybean and soybean derivatives (meal and oil) shipments grew 24.3% in June and reached US$ 6.2 billion. Even without a record volume of soybean exports, the rising price of soybeans in the world market sustained the increase.

“The increase [in soybean prices] in the last twelve months resulted from low international stocks and the strong recovery in Chinese demand for the oilseed in 2020,” said the Ministry of Agriculture in a statement.

Exports of soybeans reached 11.1 million tons, down nearly 13% from June 2020. But the value, at US$5.3 billion, was a record. “New perspectives for a good North American crop, which is currently under development, and the Chinese success in the recomposition of soybean stocks, due to purchases during the first semester of 2021, influenced the quotations in June of the oilseed, which, even at high levels, fell around 7% in relation to May in the Chicago exchange,” a ministry note advised.

Meat export revenue (beef, pork, and chicken) grew 26.6% in June, to US$1.78 billion. Beef shipments again registered a high, with an increase of 12.7%, to US$834.4 million, a record value for June, although the quantity exported decreased 6.7%, reaching 164,300 tons. Chicken meat shipment income rose 45.8% to US$ 636.2 million, with an increase in quantity and value, mainly to China.

In the case of pork, there was a 36.4% increase in foreign sales, which reached US$ 268.3 million, with a record export quantity of 107,200 tons. The main contribution for the increase also came from the Asian country, which bought 13,300 tons more than in June of last year.

Among the other groups of products most exported by Brazilian agribusiness, forest product sales grew 23.7%, to US$1.19 billion, sugar and alcohol advanced 26.8%, to US$1.07 billion, and coffee jumped 39.9%, to US$454.2 million.

With the recovery of sales in the last quarter, agribusiness exports closed the first half of the year with a growth of 20.8% compared to the same period in 2020, reaching US$61.5 billion. Imports also increased 20.2% and reached US$7.5 billion.

With this, the agribusiness trade surplus stood at US$53.99 billion from January to June, 21.2% higher than in the first six months of 2020.

The results are led by the soy complex exports, which increased 25.3% in the period and reached US$29.26 billion. In sequence are meat exports, whose shipments were 9.2%, with US$9.05 billion.

According to the Ministry of Agriculture, China was the destination of 39% of agribusiness exports from January to June.