Photo: CFP

By Brasil 247 -  Brazil's trade relationship with China reached a historic high in 2025, reinforcing the Asian country's position as Brazil's largest foreign trade partner. Total bilateral trade — combining exports and imports — climbed to $171 billion, the highest level since records began in 1997, reflecting a decade-long expansion in economic ties.

The figures were based on a study from the Brazil-China Business Council (CEBC), which showed an 8.2% increase compared with 2024. Trade with China was more than double Brazil's exchange with the US, its second-largest partner, which totaled $83 billion over the same period.

Brazilian exports to China reached $100 billion in 2025, the second-highest value in the historical series. The performance was driven mainly by soybeans, which accounted for just over one-third of total shipments and posted a 10% annual increase. The strong results came amid a global environment marked by trade tensions and shifting international supply chains.

According to calculations by Brazil's Ministry of Development, Industry, Trade and Services (Mdic), about 22% of Brazilian exports to the US — equivalent to $8.9 billion — remained subject to tariffs imposed in July of the previous year. For Tulio Cariello, content director at CEBC, the period was particularly challenging for bilateral trade with Washington. "It was a very complicated year for Brazil-US trade relations," he said.

Cariello noted that the surcharges imposed by the US administration widened Brazil's trade deficit with the US, as few products were able to offset the loss of competitiveness in other markets. Brazilian exports to the US fell from $40.37 billion in 2024 to $37.72 billion in 2025, a 6.6% decline equivalent to $2.65 billion, according to official Mdic data.

He added that some redirection of exports occurred. However, he stressed that differences in consumption patterns limit substitution between the markets of China and the US. "They are markets that have little to do with each other. Brazil's export basket to China is very different from that to the United States," he explained.

While Brazilian exports to China are largely concentrated in agricultural goods and extractive industries, around 80% of shipments to the US consist of manufactured products with higher added value and greater diversification.

On the import side, Brazilian purchases from China also hit a record in 2025, totaling $70.9 billion, up 11.5% from 2024. Growth was driven by the acquisition of an oil exploration platform vessel, electric and hybrid vehicles, fertilizers, and chemical products. Imports of medicines and pharmaceutical inputs rose sharply, making China the fourth-largest supplier to Brazil in this segment.

As a result, China accounted for 27.2% of Brazil's total foreign trade flow in 2025, which reached $629 billion, a 4.9% increase year on year. China remained Brazil's main export destination, although other markets expanded at a faster pace, notably Argentina and India, with growth rates of 31.4% and 30.2%, respectively.

Despite this diversification, China's performance outpaced that of traditional partners. Brazilian exports to the US fell 6.6%, shipments to Spain dropped 11.8%, and sales to the Netherlands were virtually flat, rising just 0.2%. Overall, Brazil's global exports grew 3.5% in 2025, totaling $348.7 billion.

For Cariello, Brazil's strategy of diversifying export markets, particularly through increased sales of meat and other products to Asian countries, is a positive step toward reducing excessive dependence on a single partner. "The axis of Brazilian foreign trade today is increasingly shifting toward Asia," he said, citing the expansion of the middle class and rising food demand in Southeast Asia as key drivers of this trend in the coming years.

(Reported by Brasil 247 on Jan 13, 2026)