Beyond the World Cup, Brazil and Japan pursue strategic agribusiness talks

Brazil and Japan faced each other at the World Cup on Monday (29) in Houston with a 2×1 victory for the South American country, but ties between the two countries extend well beyond football. For more than two decades, Brazil has been trying to open the Japanese market to its beef, one of the country’s main agribusiness export priorities.

According to Brazil’s Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock, Japan imports about 70% of the beef it consumes, a market worth roughly US$4 billion a year. Around 80% of those imports come from the United States and Australia, Japan’s traditional suppliers.

Brazil’s negotiations to enter the market are still under way, with the latest sanitary protocol under discussion for about five years. The Brazilian government, Mato Grosso’s agriculture federation Famato and the exporting industry view the talks as strategic.

“Japan is seen as a premium destination, with strict sanitary requirements and higher value added. Today, Japan’s beef imports are concentrated among traditional suppliers such as the United States and Australia,” said Cleiton Gauer, superintendent of Imea, Mato Grosso’s agricultural economics institute.

In March, Japanese authorities carried out an in-person sanitary audit of Brazil’s animal health system as part of the risk assessment process for a possible opening of the market to Brazilian beef.

For Brazil, the world’s largest beef exporter, access to Japan would mean more than just additional volume.

“Entering Japan would serve as a seal of quality and sanitary credibility in one of the world’s most demanding consumer markets. For Mato Grosso, which has Brazil’s largest cattle herd and is one of the country’s main beef-exporting states, market access would create a concrete opportunity to diversify sales and increase the value of the product,” Gauer said.

The talks gained momentum after Brazil was recognized as free of foot-and-mouth disease without vaccination, a sanitary status considered essential for access to more restrictive markets.

Chicken and pork exports gain ground

Data from Brazil’s Ministry of Development, Industry, Trade and Services, based on figures from the Foreign Trade Secretariat, show that chicken remains Brazil’s leading animal protein export to Japan, while pork has been gaining share.

In 2025, fresh, chilled and frozen chicken accounted for 18.8% of all Brazilian exports to Japan. The product generated more than US$1.03 billion in revenue, making it Brazil’s second-largest export item to the Japanese market.

The category gained further ground in 2026. From January through May, chicken’s share rose to 20.5% of the total value exported by Brazil to Japan. Based on total Brazilian exports of US$2.4 billion to Japan during the period, chicken sales generated about US$492 million.

Pork has also expanded its presence. In 2025, pork accounted for 4.7% of Brazilian exports to Japan, generating about US$258.5 million.

In the first five months of 2026, pork’s share rose to 7.5% of Brazil’s export revenue from Japan, equivalent to roughly US$180 million in sales between January and May.

Coffee remains a key trade link

Coffee also plays an important role in Brazil-Japan trade. According to Cecafé, Brazil’s coffee exporters council, Japan imported 2.647 million 60-kg bags of Brazilian coffee in 2025, up 19.4% from 2024. With that performance, Japan became the fourth-largest buyer of Brazilian coffee.

Japanese demand for higher-value coffees is also opening new opportunities for Brazilian exporters. This year, Expocacer, the Cerrado Coffee Growers Cooperative, made its first shipment of naturally decaffeinated, unroasted specialty coffee to Japan.

The shipment totaled 8.4 tonnes, equivalent to 140 60-kg bags, and was shipped through the Port of Santos. According to the cooperative, the operation was part of a commercial repositioning strategy developed over the past three years, after the company identified decaffeinated coffee as a promising niche in international markets.

That single shipment exceeded Brazil’s total annual exports of unroasted decaffeinated coffee in each year since 2020.

Bilateral trade

Brazil-Japan trade totaled US$11.5 billion in 2025. Brazilian exports to Japan reached US$5.5 billion, while imports totaled US$6.1 billion, leaving Brazil with a US$562.6 million deficit. Japan ranked as Brazil’s 10th-largest export destination.

Other products also stand out in the bilateral trade relationship. Brazil exported 12.63 million tonnes of iron ore to Japan in 2025, generating US$960 million in revenue.

Brazil’s export basket to Japan is currently highly concentrated in the iron ore sector, which accounted for roughly 80% of shipments between January and April 2026. The chart below shows the other leading commodities:

Top Exports to Japan | Jan-Apr 2026 | WTMT

Source: DataLiner (click here to request a demo)

In the opposite direction, Brazil imported 95,780 tonnes of Japanese auto parts, worth US$1.15 billion, underscoring the strength of Japan’s automotive industry.

More recent data point to a shift in the trade balance. From January through May 2026, Brazilian exports to Japan totaled US$2.4 billion, up 11.9% year on year. Imports also reached US$2.4 billion, but were down 8.6%.

As a result, bilateral trade totaled US$4.8 billion in the period, with Brazil posting a small surplus of US$7.2 million.

According to 2025 Secex data compiled by Imea, Mato Grosso exported 311,940 tonnes of soybean meal to Japan, generating US$105.35 million. Soybean shipments from the state totaled 223,400 tonnes, worth US$88.61 million.

Together, the two products accounted for 535,340 tonnes shipped from Mato Grosso to Japan, with total revenue of US$193.96 million.

Source: CNN Brasil

Sharing is caring!