Pressured by the growth of imports and the cheapening of commodities (primary goods with international prices), the trade balance ended 2025 with a smaller surplus than in 2024, despite recording the best result for a December month since 1989. Last year, exports exceeded imports by US$68.293 billion, a drop of 7.9% compared to the surplus recorded in 2024.
The numbers were released this Tuesday (6) by the Ministry of Development, Industry, Commerce and Services (Mdic). Despite the decline, this was the third largest annual trade surplus since the beginning of the history series, in 1989.
The biggest were in 2023, when the surplus reached US$98.903 billion, and in 2024, when the positive result was US$74.177 billion.
Both exports and imports hit records. Even with tariffs in the United States and with the fall in the price of commoditiesmainly oil, sales abroad totaled US$348.676 billion, an increase of 3.5% compared to 2024.
Benefiting from economic growth, however, imports increased at a faster pace. Last year, Brazil purchased US$280.382 billion from abroad, an increase of 6.7%.
Projections
The trade balance was well above projections. The Mdic projected a trade surplus of US$60.9 billion in 2025, with US$344.9 billion in exports.
Imports were below the projection of US$ 284 billion. The fact that imports were lower than expected helped increase the balance surplus at the end of 2025.
Resilience
In a press conference, the vice-president and minister of Development, Industry, Commerce and Services, Geraldo Alckmin, said that Brazilian foreign trade grew in 2025, despite tariffs and geopolitical difficulties.
“Our volume in terms of exports grew by 5.7%. Global trade grew by 2.4%. So, we grew more than twice as much as global trade. This shows the resilience and good competitiveness of Brazilian products”, he declared.
In December alone, the trade balance recorded a surplus of US$9.633 billion, an increase of 107.8% compared to the same month in 2024. This was the highest result for the month in the historical series, which started in 1989surpassing the previous record, of a surplus of US$9.323 billion, in December 2023. Imports also reached a record value for the month.
The value of exports and imports in December was as follows:
- Exports: US$31.038 billion, an increase of 24.7% compared to December last year;
- Imports: US$ 21.405 billion, an increase of 5.7% in the same comparison
Sectors
In distribution by economic sectors, exports in December grew as follows:
- Agriculture: +43.5%, with an increase of 35.2% in volume and 6.7% in average price;
- Extractive industry: +53%, with a 58.1% increase in volume and a 3.2% drop in average price;
- Manufacturing industry: +11%, with a 14.9% increase in volume and a 4.2% drop in average price.
Products
The main products responsible for the growth in exports in December were the following:
- Agriculture: soy (+73.9%); unroasted coffee (+52.9%) and unground corn, except sweet corn (+46%);
- Extractive industry: crude petroleum oils (+74%) and iron ore (+33.7%);
- Manufacturing industry: beef (+70.5%) and non-monetary gold (+88.7%).
In the case of crude oil, the resumption of platform activity, after a period of scheduled maintenance in November, was the main driver of growth.
In relation to imports, growth is linked to the recovery of the economy, with an increase in consumption and investments.
In the division by categories, the imported products were as follows:
- Agriculture: soybeans (+4,979.1%) and unground wheat and rye (+24.6%)
- Extractive industry: crude fertilizers, excluding manures, +222.4%; non-agglomerated coal (+26.3%);
- Manufacturing industry: fuels (+42.9%) and medicines, including veterinary (+47.7%).
