Brazil exported over 357,000 tonnes (t) of beef in October, a 1.5% increase on September, which had been a record.
For the year to the end of October, the volume has reached 2.79 million tonnes, which is just over 100,000t below the total exported for all of last year.
This data is published by ABIEC, which represents Brazilian exporters.
Unless there is a complete collapse in exports for the final two months of the year, Brazilian beef exports will pass 3m tonnes for the first time ever in 2025.
This is the culmination of exceptional growth over the past two decades. It is just five years ago in 2020 that Brazil exported 2m tonnes of beef for the first time and 2004 was the year that Brazil exported 1m tonnes of beef for the first time.
Markets
Brazilian beef exports couldn’t have grown at this exceptional rate without exceptional growth in demand. This was provided by China, whose beef imports have grown from 70,000t in 2012 to almost 2.9m tonnes in 2024 (China customs/Bord Bia). This phenomenal growth in demand coincided with Brazil’s beef export growth.
In October 2025, China continues to be the main customer for Brazil’s beef exports, taking 190,829t, more than half of the total.
Their second-highest volume market is the EU at 17,099t, which is a big increase on the 10,315t exported to the EU in October 2024.
Perhaps the most surprising figure is the 12,437t that were exported to the US in October.
It had been expected that the additional 50% tariff imposed by the US administration on beef imported from Brazil would decimate volumes, but while it is a sharp reduction on the 27,940t exported in October 2024, the US is still Brazil’s third-most important export market for beef.
Comment: Europe is important market for Brazil
Twenty years ago, when Brazil was exporting one third of the beef that it does now, the EU was its main export market, taking over 400,000t annually. This had fallen to less than 110,000t last year, but has already passed 125,000t this year with two months still to come.
There a number of combined reasons for the recovery in exports to the EU. Demand in China has slowed, while the US has imposed penal tariffs, while demand has increased in the EU and UK because of a drop in domestic production.
This makes it an ideal market for an exporting country and it will become even more attractive with the ratification of the Mercosur trade agreement.
Read more
Momentum builds towards Mercosur deal
It’s starting to look a lot like Mercosur before Christmas
Record Brazilian beef exports in September
Brazil exported over 357,000 tonnes (t) of beef in October, a 1.5% increase on September, which had been a record.
For the year to the end of October, the volume has reached 2.79 million tonnes, which is just over 100,000t below the total exported for all of last year.
This data is published by ABIEC, which represents Brazilian exporters.
Unless there is a complete collapse in exports for the final two months of the year, Brazilian beef exports will pass 3m tonnes for the first time ever in 2025.
This is the culmination of exceptional growth over the past two decades. It is just five years ago in 2020 that Brazil exported 2m tonnes of beef for the first time and 2004 was the year that Brazil exported 1m tonnes of beef for the first time.
Markets
Brazilian beef exports couldn’t have grown at this exceptional rate without exceptional growth in demand. This was provided by China, whose beef imports have grown from 70,000t in 2012 to almost 2.9m tonnes in 2024 (China customs/Bord Bia). This phenomenal growth in demand coincided with Brazil’s beef export growth.
In October 2025, China continues to be the main customer for Brazil’s beef exports, taking 190,829t, more than half of the total.
Their second-highest volume market is the EU at 17,099t, which is a big increase on the 10,315t exported to the EU in October 2024.
Perhaps the most surprising figure is the 12,437t that were exported to the US in October.
It had been expected that the additional 50% tariff imposed by the US administration on beef imported from Brazil would decimate volumes, but while it is a sharp reduction on the 27,940t exported in October 2024, the US is still Brazil’s third-most important export market for beef.
Comment: Europe is important market for Brazil
Twenty years ago, when Brazil was exporting one third of the beef that it does now, the EU was its main export market, taking over 400,000t annually. This had fallen to less than 110,000t last year, but has already passed 125,000t this year with two months still to come.
There a number of combined reasons for the recovery in exports to the EU. Demand in China has slowed, while the US has imposed penal tariffs, while demand has increased in the EU and UK because of a drop in domestic production.
This makes it an ideal market for an exporting country and it will become even more attractive with the ratification of the Mercosur trade agreement.
Read more
Momentum builds towards Mercosur deal
It’s starting to look a lot like Mercosur before Christmas
Record Brazilian beef exports in September
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