Brazil

Brazil’s agricultural production has grown rapidly over the past two decades, driven by rising global demand, strong prices, and technological advances. Changes in crop management practices and expansion in area harvested have enabled Brazil to become a leading exporter of soybeans, corn, sugar, meat, coffee, and ethanol. With continuing productivity increases and additional land available for farming, further growth in agricultural production and exports is anticipated. At the same time, growing per capita income and population growth will continue to fuel demand in Brazil for agricultural products, including higher value commodities.

ERS provides research, analysis, and information on Brazil’s economy, agricultural sector, outlook, policies, and trade. ERS reports provide in-depth analysis of Brazil’s changing macroeconomic conditions, agricultural policies and structure, responsiveness to oil prices, and factors behind expanding agricultural production and trade.

Some of the issues covered by ERS reports with relation to Brazil’s agricultural economy are:

• Brazil has emerged as the largest U.S. competitor in the global corn market with second-crop corn, harvested late in the local marketing year, boosting exports from September to January. A change in export seasonality could alter the seasonality of U.S. corn prices, further weakening corn prices at harvest and eroding U.S. export market share (see Brazil's Corn Industry and the Effect on the Seasonal Pattern of U.S. Corn Exports , June 2016).

• Brazil has become an important producer and trader of soybeans and corn and now competes with the United States in world markets. The condition and performance of Brazil’s agricultural sector and its export competitiveness can be studied by comparing, across countries, farm prices the include farm-level production costs, the cost of internal transportation and handling, and the cost of shipping to a common export destination (see Corn and Soybean Production Costs and Export Competitiveness in Argentina, Brazil, and the United States , June 2016).

• The Brazilian agricultural sector has been transformed from a traditional system of production with low use of modern technologies to a world agricultural leader. Brazil’s science and technology investments and other public policies have been crucial for enabling the country to discover its agricultural potential and increase farm production (see Policy, Technology, and Efficiency of Brazilian Agriculture , July 2012).

• As a result of trade liberalization and the expansion of agriculture into new producing regions, Brazil has emerged as one of the world’s leading cotton producers and an important competitor of the United States in Asian and European cotton markets. Brazil’s access to additional agricultural land and favorable cotton prices (in 2011) suggest the country’s cotton production could rise even more than previously expected (see Brazil's Cotton Industry: Economic Reform and Development , June 2011).