Paraná ports post fastest cargo growth in Brazil in 2025

Ports in Brazil’s southern state of Paraná recorded the highest percentage growth in cargo volumes among the country’s ports in 2025, according to updated data from the federal government’s Comex Stat platform released on January 6. Cargo throughput at Portos do Paraná rose 10.1% from the previous year, increasing from 66.7 million tonnes in 2024 to 73.5 million tonnes, including both exports and imports.

The port authority broke its historical cargo record in early December, when volumes surpassed 70 million tonnes. By December 31, throughput had reached 73,506,480 tonnes. On average, more than 6.1 million tonnes of cargo moved through Paraná’s ports each month in 2025, up from a monthly average of 5.5 million tonnes in 2024.

Technical studies carried out jointly with Brazil’s Ministry of Ports and Airports had previously projected that this level of throughput would only be reached from 2035 onward.

“The port, which has been awarded six consecutive times as the best in Brazil, once again proves that it is a benchmark for the entire country,” Paraná Governor Carlos Massa Ratinho Junior said in a statement.

Over the past seven years, cargo volumes at Portos do Paraná have increased by 38.16%, well above the 29.15% growth recorded between 2011 and 2018.

Cargo highlights

In 2025, corn was the commodity with the strongest growth, rising from 1.07 million tonnes in 2024 to 5.09 million tonnes, an increase of 375%. Shipments of vegetable oils also rose sharply, up 32%, reinforcing the Port of Paranaguá’s position as Brazil’s leading export hub for the product. Pulp and bagged sugar posted gains of 16% and 15%, respectively.

Soybean exports remained on an upward trend, totaling 14.6 million tonnes, an increase of 11% from 2024. The port also handles soybeans produced in other states, including Mato Grosso do Sul and São Paulo. Soybean meal exports rose 5% year on year, reaching 6.5 million tonnes.

Container cargo

Containerized cargo also set a new record in 2025, with total volumes reaching 1,662,370 TEUs, up 7% from 1.5 million TEUs in 2024. A significant share of containers shipped from Paranaguá are refrigerated. The port is Brazil’s main export corridor for frozen animal protein, accounting for 34% of the national market, and is the world’s largest export gateway for chicken meat. In 2025, shipments of chicken totaled 2.8 million tonnes, unchanged from 2024.

The lack of growth in chicken exports was linked to an avian influenza outbreak in May, which temporarily halted shipments to some destinations.

Beef exports stood out during the year, with shipments reaching 1.2 million tonnes, a 46.5% increase. Much of this volume originated in other Brazilian states, including the North, which opted to route cargo through Paranaguá due to its logistical efficiency.

Below is the monthly volume of beef exports shipped through the Port of Paranaguá between January 2022 and November 2025. The data is sourced from Datamar.

Beef Exports – Paranaguá | Jan 2022 – Nov 2025 | TEUs

Source: DataLiner (click here to request a demo)

Wood products were also among the top three containerized exports, totaling 1.6 million tonnes, up 0.24% from 2024, with the United States among the main destinations.

Imports

On the import side, fertilizers led volumes, reaching 11.61 million tonnes, a 4% increase and a new historical record. Paraná’s ports remain Brazil’s main entry point for fertilizers, with more than 25% of national consumption arriving through Paranaguá and Antonina. Imports of cereals such as wheat, malt and barley also set a record, totaling 1.10 million tonnes in 2025, up from 1.08 million tonnes a year earlier.

Growth drivers

According to the port authority, structural improvements have enabled more efficient logistics. The completion of rock removal works at Pedra da Palangana in late 2024 improved safety and agility in the access channel by reducing the need for complex maneuvers. Ongoing dredging has also increased the operational draft, allowing vessels to load more cargo per call and reducing costs for exporters and importers.

Within less than a year, Portos do Paraná obtained two authorizations to increase draft levels. In December 2024, the draft was raised from 12.8 meters to 13.1 meters, and in September 2025 to 13.3 meters. The additional 50 centimeters allowed, for example, an extra 3,700 tonnes of cargo per vessel. In early December, the Port of Paranaguá loaded a record 77,000 tonnes of corn aboard the MV Minoan Pioneer, the largest volume of solid vegetable bulk ever shipped on a single vessel at the port.

The access channel is expected to deepen further in coming years, with the draft potentially reaching 15.5 meters following the concession of the access channel, auctioned in October. The expansion is expected to allow up to 14,000 additional tonnes of solid bulk cargo, or around 1,000 containers, to be loaded per vessel.

Further capacity gains are expected in the short term. By February, construction is set to be completed on Moegão, the largest public port grain hopper in Brazil, now more than 80% finished. The Paraná state government, through Portos do Paraná, is investing more than R$650 million in the rail-based cargo reception complex, which will be able to handle up to 24 million tonnes of grains and meals per year once operational.

Construction is also set to begin on a new T-shaped pier, with the first phase budgeted at R$1.2 billion. The structure will add four new berths to the Eastern Export Corridor, equipped with high-speed loading systems. A second phase, with an additional R$1 billion investment, will mark the state government’s first direct investment in port infrastructure in more than 50 years. Plans also include an F-shaped pier to serve the new Western Corridor and an expansion of the liquid bulk pier to interconnect terminals handling that type of cargo.

Source: Portos do Paraná

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