Açaí expands exports and strengthens industry in the Amazon region

Açaí has moved beyond being a regional product to become one of the main commodities of Brazil’s bioeconomy. Driven by growing external demand, value addition, and the expansion of cultivated areas, the fruit’s production chain generates billions of reais and increases its relevance in the trade balance.

According to data from the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE), Brazil produces around 1.6 million tonnes of açaí annually, considering both extractive harvesting and cultivation. Pará accounts for approximately 85% of this volume, consolidating its position as the country’s largest producer. Amazonas and Amapá follow, with production that is predominantly extractive, while states such as Roraima and Acre are expanding planted areas under irrigated systems.

According to statistics from the Ministry of Development, Industry, Trade and Services (MDIC), Brazilian exports of açaí — including pulp and preparations — exceeded US$200 million in 2024, maintaining an upward trajectory in recent years. The main destination is the United States, which accounts for more than half of external purchases. The European Union and Japan are also among the relevant markets.

The growth in foreign sales reflects the consolidation of açaí as a product associated with healthy eating and high nutritional value. International demand is driven mainly by frozen pulps and concentrates used in the beverage, supplements, and functional foods industries.

In the trade balance, açaí maintains a broadly positive balance, as Brazil virtually does not import the product. The surplus underscores the importance of the fruit in the Amazonian bioeconomy’s export basket.

While Pará leads in volume, new production hubs are betting on industrialization to capture higher margins. In Roraima, producers have invested in irrigated systems in the lavrado — savanna areas, which allow year-round harvesting, reducing the typical seasonality of the Amazon region.

In the municipality of Cantá, farmers have begun integrating production and processing. The model includes fruit selection, washing, blanching — an essential step to eliminate microorganisms and reduce sanitary risks — and pulp extraction prior to commercialization.

The advance of local industrialization seeks to increase income and reduce dependence on the sale of fresh fruit, which is traditionally more subject to price fluctuations. Small agro-industries are emerging as an alternative for economic diversification, especially for family farmers.

The expansion of consumption has also brought stricter sanitary requirements. Blanching — a heat treatment that eliminates potential contaminants — has become a practice recommended by health surveillance authorities to prevent contamination by Trypanosoma cruzi, the parasite that causes Chagas disease.

Producing states have stepped up training and quality control campaigns. In Pará, a national reference, the production chain has consolidated protocols that serve as a model for other regions.

Although production in the Amazon region is still predominantly extractive, irrigated cultivation is gaining ground, especially in areas adapted to it outside the traditional floodplains. The technology enables greater supply predictability, standardized fruit, and continuous supply contracts for industries and exporters.

Experts point out that the challenge of the next decade will be to balance productive expansion with environmental preservation, as the açaí palm is native to the Amazon and plays a relevant ecological role.

The global market for açaí-based products continues to show growth prospects, driven by trends toward natural foods and traceability. Expanding industrial capacity in the North could increase Brazil’s share in higher value-added segments, such as concentrated extracts and ingredients for the pharmaceutical and cosmetics industries.

For emerging states such as Roraima, the bet on vertical integration represents an opportunity for more qualified insertion into the bioeconomy value chain. For the country, the fruit reinforces the strategy of turning biodiversity into an economic asset, with a direct impact on income generation and the trade balance.

The performance of açaí illustrates how regional products can gain global scale when production, technology, and access to international markets are combined.

Source: Pensar Agro

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