Brazil’s Fruit Exports Hit Record $1.2 Billion Bolstered by New Markets and EU-Mercosur Deal

The conclusion of trade agreement negotiations between Mercosur and the European Union (EU) earlier this month and the opening of new markets promises a fresh push for Brazil’s fruit exports, which are already thriving.

Brazilian fruit exports reached a record $1.2 billion last year. Since 2023, agreements have been signed to open seven new markets for Brazilian fruit growers, with another 12 markets currently under negotiation, according to Abrafrutas, the national fruit producers’ association.

The sector’s progress stems from a revolution driven by the combination of technology and natural conditions that enable year-round irrigated production in the semi-arid region of Northeast Brazil.

Meanwhile, the South remains strong in apple production, while São Paulo and Minas Gerais dominate in lime and orange production—Brazil’s most widely grown fruit. However, the orange sector, heavily reliant on juice processing, faced a crop shortfall due to drought earlier this year.

Forecast for 2025: With a strong dollar, the industry is already predicting price hikes starting in January, which could impact inflation.

Fresh fruits, mangoes, melons, and grapes were Brazil’s top exports in 2023, but different varieties of limes are also standing out this year. Despite this success, exports still account for a minuscule portion of national production.

With approximately 43 million tons of fruit harvested in 2023, Brazil is the world’s third-largest producer, trailing only China and India. However, the country exported just 1 million tons—2.3% of the total. For producers and experts, this reflects the untapped potential of external demand.

“We are an open-sky greenhouse. We have the climate, people, land, and ports. We have a unique production environment in the Northeast that can be multiplied many times over,” says Carlo Porro, CEO of Agrícola Famosa.

The company is Brazil’s largest fruit producer and exporter, especially of melons. It went international in 2021, selling a minority stake to Spanish giant Citri&Co. This year, it acquired the Spanish company El Abuelo de los Melones, further expanding its presence abroad.

Here’s a chart showing the top fruit-importing countries in Europe. This powerful information was derived from DataLiner, taking account fruit shipments in containers from January to October 2024.

Fruits Exports by Destination | 2024 | TEUs

Source: DataLiner (click here to request a demo)

Transformation in the Fields

Porro started in the business as a trader, buying fruits wholesale in São Paulo and shipping them to Italy. Over 30 years ago, he became a producer by taking over a 22-hectare melon farm with “rudimentary irrigation” on the Ceará-Rio Grande do Norte border in exchange for a debt owed by a farmer who had lost everything to heavy rain.

In 1995, Porro founded Agrícola Famosa, which now owns 30,000 hectares of farms in the region, employs 6,000 people, and exports 70% of its melon production. He has witnessed the “transformation” of Brazil’s fruit sector.

This transformation began in the 1970s with irrigation infrastructure in the semi-arid region, explains Júnior Silveira, a consultant specializing in the fruit market. Public investments were made in the area, particularly in hubs like Juazeiro (BA) and Petrolina (PE), divided by the São Francisco River, alongside private projects focused on artesian wells.

Later, in the 1980s and 1990s, technology spread to farming practices, notes Maria Auxiliadora Coêlho de Lima, head of Embrapa Semiárido. Innovations included precise irrigation management and “fertigation,” which combines irrigation with fertilization to modify natural growth cycles.

“For mangoes, we use ‘flower induction.’ Instead of letting the fruit’s flowering and fruiting occur spontaneously in their respective seasons, we can stimulate the plant to end its cycle and flower outside its usual timeframe,” explains Coêlho. This allows weekly mango harvesting on the same plantation. Grape vines, on the other hand, yield two to two-and-a-half crops per year, unlike traditional growing regions like Southern Brazil, Chile, California, or Europe.

Between the 1990s and 2000s, Embrapa began investing in genetic selection technologies, developing new varieties to meet consumer demands, such as seedless grapes, replacing seedlings previously developed by multinational companies.

Success came in 2011 with the BRS Vitória, a seedless red grape loved by consumers and known for its low cost and high productivity for farmers. The latest variety, BRS Melodia, has a “red fruit” flavor. Embrapa is now preparing to release its first mango variety, Coêlho reveals.

Open Varieties

In 2017, when Priscilla Nasrallah founded Lina Frutas and began growing grapes on her family’s farm in the São Francisco Valley, she started with two “open” varieties (free of royalties charged by multinational seed companies) from Embrapa. She later introduced patented varieties, which opened up opportunities in the international market.

Today, Nasrallah manages 100 hectares—one-third planted with grapes and the rest with mangoes—and exports around 60% of her production. For her, the export market is the “natural path” and a driver of production growth, which she believes could quadruple.

“Our main focus is export, except when there’s no ‘window’ (periods when market conditions favor one country over others) or when the domestic market pays very well,” she says.

A New Major Market

According to Abrafrutas President Guilherme Coelho, the growth of fruit exports depends on market openings through agreements or treaties negotiated by the government with other countries, including sanitary regulations. One result of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s visit to Brasília last month was agreements allowing the entry of Brazilian fresh grapes into the world’s second-largest economy.

China produces grapes but, with 1.4 billion people, has seemingly endless demand. Brazilian producers are betting that their grape varieties will appeal to Chinese consumers. Following the formalization of the agreement, work will begin to prospect importers, understand local consumption habits, and send test shipments.

On another front, free trade agreements, such as the EU-Mercosur deal, have less impact on market access but can increase demand by making products cheaper for end consumers due to reduced import tariffs.

After a gradual reduction schedule for each product, Brazilian fruit exports to Europe will have zero tariffs. Grapes, currently taxed at 8% to 14%, will be tariff-free in the first year.

Even so, consultant Júnior Silveira sees Asia as the sector’s next frontier, especially China, with its “350 million-strong middle class,” since the European market is more competitive.

All producers and experts interviewed noted labor shortages as a current challenge for Brazil’s fruit industry. High job creation is a positive aspect of fruit production compared to mechanized agricultural commodities like soybeans, corn, or cotton.

Fruits require delicate handling during harvesting and packaging, even with some machinery use.

According to João Ricardo Ferreira de Lima, a socioeconomics researcher at Embrapa Semiárido, grape cultivation generates three jobs per hectare, while mangoes create one job for every three hectares.

Source: O Globo

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