Brazil dairy trade grows in July as cheese and milk powder flows rise

Brazil dairy imports and exports both increased in July, although the country continued to buy far more dairy products from abroad than it shipped overseas. Imports rose 9.01% from June, while exports increased 17.43%, according to Brazilian foreign trade data from Secex analyzed by Cepea.

Imports reached 236.3 million liters in milk-equivalent terms, while exports totaled 5.27 million liters.

Compared with July 2025, however, the gap widened further. Brazilian dairy imports climbed 33.49%, while exports fell 5.55%.

As a result, Brazil’s dairy trade deficit increased 8.8% from June to 231.03 million liters in milk-equivalent terms. In value, the deficit reached $103.68 million, up 9.2% month over month. Compared with July last year, the deficit in volume terms expanded 34.76%.

Cheese and milk powder drive Brazilian dairy imports

Cheese accounted for 29.4% of dairy purchases from overseas in July. Imports increased 12.7% from June to 69.49 million liters in milk-equivalent terms.

Milk powder remained by far the largest product in Brazil’s dairy import basket, representing 69.8% of total inbound volume. Purchases rose 7.54% from June to 164.94 million liters in milk-equivalent terms.

Condensed milk and cheese lead Brazilian dairy exports

On the export side, condensed milk and cheese were Brazil’s leading dairy products in July, accounting for 29.4% and 33.6% of outbound volume, respectively.

Condensed milk shipments jumped 57.6% from June to 1.55 million liters in milk-equivalent terms.

According to Datamar data, Brazilian exports of condensed milk (NCM 0402.99.00), shipped in containers by sea, reached 129 TEUs in the first half of the year. The chart below shows the monthly evolution of shipments recorded on the DataLiner platform:

Condensed Milk Exports | Jan 2023 – Jun 2026 | TEUs

Source: DataLiner (click here to request a demo)

Cheese exports moved in the opposite direction, falling 10.17% month over month to 1.77 million liters in milk-equivalent terms.

Despite the monthly increase in outbound shipments, Brazil dairy imports and exports remained heavily skewed toward imports in July, with purchases from overseas exceeding exports by more than 40 times in milk-equivalent volume.

Source: CEPEA

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