Browse Data and Analysis

Brazil’s sugarcane fields performed exceptionally well in the marketing year (MY) April 2023 to March 2024, producing a record of 705 million metric tons (MMT).

Colombia is the largest South American market for U.S. agricultural products and the seventh-largest market for U.S. food and beverage exports globally. Since the U.S. – Colombia Trade Promotion Agreement (CTPA) was implemented in 2012, U.S. agricultural exports have grown by more than 235 percent to a record $3.7 billion in 2023.

The Brazilian Food Processors' Association reported 2023 Brazilian food processing sector revenues at US$231 billion, a growth of 7.2 percent compared to the previous year.

Brazil, a BRICS emerging economy, is the world’s sixth-largest greenhouse gas (GHG) emitter. Change in land use and forests (including deforestation and wildfires) is the main source of GHGs in Brazil, followed closely by agricultural production.

Despite initially optimistic projections for the 2023/24 harvest, the El Niño has negatively impacted the corn and wheat crops. As a result, Post estimates corn production in MY 2023/24 will decrease to 122 MMT.

For MY 2024/25, Post forecasts cotton area to grow 13 percent compared to the current season, to 1.87 million hectares. Post also forecasts cotton production at a record 15.4 million bales (3.3 million metric tons (MMT)) on the back of significant area increase.

Post forecasts that Marketing Year (MY) 2024/25 planted area will expand at a slower growth rate, reaching 45.6 million hectares (ha). Post forecasts MY 2024/25 production at 157.5 million metric tons (MMT), 4.9 MMT more than the revised estimate in MY 2023/24.

Brazil is the second-largest chicken meat producer in the world after the United States, and the largest chicken meat exporter in the world.

Brazil is currently at the bottom of the cattle cycle, liquidating inventories since 2023. The oversupply of cattle for slaughter has led to a slow price recovery and longer-term impact to the replacement market.

The Brazilian orange crop for Marketing Year (MY) 2023/24 is forecast at 408 million 40.8-kg boxes (MBx) - standard reference, equivalent to 16.5 million metric tons (MMT), a decrease of 1.03 percent compared to the estimate of current crop MY 2022/23 (around 412.3 million boxes or 16.67 MMT), due to the incidence of greening, which has been affecting Brazil’s citrus belt.

Brazil continues to offer excellent export opportunities for U.S. companies. In 2022, Brazil’s imports of consumer-oriented agricultural products were US$5.2 billion, an increase of 20 percent compared to the previous year.

Post revises down MY 2023/24 soybean production to 158.5 MMT due to poor weather outlooks resulting from El Niño, particularly in the Centre West states, which may affect final yields currently projected at 3.507 kg/ha.