Business

Brazil recorded a USD 74.6bn trade surplus in 2024, the second-largest since records began in 1989.¹ The same year, gross domestic product reached BRL 11.7tn (about USD 2.2tn) and grew 3.4%, according to the Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatística (Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics, IBGE).² The Serviço Brasileiro de Apoio às Micro e Pequenas Empresas (Brazilian Micro and Small Business Support Service, Sebrae) puts small businesses at about 95% of companies opened in Brazil and 30% of GDP.³ Nova Indústria Brasil (New Industry Brazil), the federal industrial policy, sets targets across six missions to be met by 2033.⁴

Trade surplus and export destinations

China was Brazil's largest agribusiness export destination in 2024, buying USD 49.7bn worth of goods, ahead of the European Union at USD 23.2bn and the United States at USD 12.1bn.⁵ Together, those three partners accounted for USD 85bn of agribusiness exports that year.⁵ Brazil's overall trade surplus reached USD 74.6bn in 2024, the second-largest since records began in 1989, according to Agência Brasil.¹

Macroeconomic scale and sector expansion

Brazil's economy grew 3.4% in 2024, and the Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatística (Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics, IBGE) put gross domestic product at BRL 11.7tn (about USD 2.2tn) for the year.² IBGE identified manufacturing as an important contributor to Brazil's 2024 economic expansion, an industry that grew 3.8% that year.⁶ IBGE traced roughly half of that 2024 GDP growth to three activities: manufacturing, up 3.8%, other service activities, up 5.3%, and trade, also up 3.8%.⁶

Small businesses and employment

Micro and small enterprises generated seven out of every ten jobs created in Brazil in 2024, according to the Serviço Brasileiro de Apoio às Micro e Pequenas Empresas (Brazilian Micro and Small Business Support Service, Sebrae).⁷ Sebrae describes small businesses as representing about 95% of companies opened in Brazil and 30% of GDP.³

Foreign direct investment and investment abroad

Foreign direct investment (FDI) into Brazil equaled about 3.3% of GDP in 2024, World Bank data show.⁸ Brazil's own direct investment abroad is a separate measure: it reached a record USD 504bn in 2024, according to Banco Central do Brasil (the Central Bank of Brazil).⁹

Industrial strategy and decarbonization policy

Nova Indústria Brasil (New Industry Brazil), the federal industrial policy, sets targets across six missions to be met by 2033.⁴ The federal government committed BRL 300bn (about USD 61bn) in financing for it through 2026.¹⁰ One mission, covering bioeconomy, decarbonization, and energy transition, counts on BRL 468.38bn in combined public and private investment, according to the Ministério do Desenvolvimento, Indústria, Comércio e Serviços (Ministry of Development, Industry, Trade and Services).¹¹

Agribusiness footprint

Agribusiness accounts for 30% of employment in Brazil, and the World Bank Group calls the country the leading global exporter of soybeans and beef.¹² Agriculture, counted on its own as farm output rather than the whole agribusiness chain, contracted 3.2% in 2024, while industry grew 3.3% and services 3.7%, according to IBGE.² In the first quarter of 2025, agriculture accounted for about 6.5% of the economy.¹³

Trade liberalization and the Plano Real

Brazil's trade liberalization began formally in the late 1980s and became more effective in the early 1990s, according to the Comisión Económica para América Latina y el Caribe (Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean, CEPAL).¹⁴ The Plano Real (Real Plan) built on earlier reforms that opened the economy, deregulated and liberalized the exchange market, and normalized relations with the international financial community, the World Trade Organization notes.¹⁵ In the 1994–99 period, Brazil combined lower inflation with privatization, greater openness to foreign capital, trade liberalization, and fiscal adjustment.¹⁶