Oil Tops Brazil Exports

Oil has surpassed soybeans as Brazil’s top export, an unprecedented performance that underscores the COP30 host’s status as a fossil-fuel champion.

The value of Brazilian crude exports rose 5 percent to $44.8 billion in 2024, the first time oil eclipsed all other foreign sales for Latin America’s biggest economy, according to trade ministry data released Monday. The volume of oil shipments rose 10 percent. China was the primary destination for Brazilian barrels with roughly 44 percent, followed by the US, Spain and the Netherlands.  

Tumbling soybean prices and a drop in sales volumes helped oil’s ascent to the top, said José Augusto de Castro, executive president of Brazilian foreign-trade association known as AEB. Castro expects the oilseed to regain the No. 1 spot this year with exports of $49.5 billion.

“As the agricultural harvest recovers, it is possible that soybeans will once again become the main export product,” Herlon Brandão, the trade ministry’s statistics director, said during a media briefing. 

The South American powerhouse was the world’s eight-largest crude supplier in 2023, driven by state-controlled driller Petrobras. Overall output from Brazilian wells averaged roughly 3.4 million barrels a day last year, according to industry group IBP.  

Since 2016, the Brazilian oil sector’s foreign trade has shown a positive net balance. The share of oil shipped out of the country has progressively grown since then, accounting for about 50% of overall supplies until through November, according to StoneX. 

IBP sees daily crude exports reaching 2.5 million barrels by 2027 as output expands and growing foreign demand for Brazilian oil because of its relatively low carbon footprint. Crude from the Tupi and Buzios fields, for example, have less than half the carbon intensity of the global average.  

“European refineries will look for oil that emits as little CO2 as possible,” IBP President Roberto Ardenghy said at a recent media briefing. “We see an increase in the competitiveness of the Brazilian product.”

Brazil is looking to burnish its green credentials as it prepares to host the United Nations Climate Change Conference, known as COP30, in November. The event is set to take place in the Amazon rainforest city of Belem as President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva seeks to prosecutes an ambitious green agenda while also seeking economic development. 

A deadlock over a drilling license for Petrobras to explore a potentially oil-rich basin off the country’s northern coast illustrates the internal conflict over fossil fuels within the Lula administration. Environment Minister Marina Silva opposes the project while the president’s hand-picked Petrobras chief, Magda Chambriard, warns the nation risks reverting to the status of an oil importer after 2030 without new exploration.