Foreign demand for Brazilian beef remains high

Cepea, July 16, 2025

CATTLE – Beef exports are important for sustaining prices across the entire Brazilian livestock sector. In 2025, foreign demand for Brazilian beef remains high.

According to Secex data, from January to June, revenue from international sales reached USD 7.2 billion, 27% more than in the first half of 2024. This scenario reflects a 12.5% increase in the volume exported and a 12.7% rise in the average price (in dollars).

In June, revenue in dollars rose 50% compared to June 2024, driven by increases of 23% in volume and 22% in price.

In the domestic market, liquidity remained low in mid-July, and prices dropped in the partial of the month. From June 30 to July 15, beef carcass values moved down 4.85% in the wholesale market of the Greater São Paulo, averaging BRL 20.97/kg on July 15. In the same period, the CEPEA/ESALQ Index for fed cattle (São Paulo State) decreased 5.29%, to BRL 300.60.

SWINE – In the first half of 2025, both volume and revenue from Brazilian pork exports hit records for the period, considering the Secex series, which began in 1997.

Brazil shipped 713.4 thousand tons from January to June, 17.5% more than in the same period of 2024. In June, exports totaled 135.5 thousand tons, the second-highest volume in the Secex series, behind only July 2024, when 137 thousand tons were shipped.

Revenue from international sales reached BRL 9.82 billion in the first half of this year, an increase of 49% compared to the same period in 2024. In June, revenue totaled BRL 1.88 billion, 14.8% higher than in May and up 49.4% compared to June 2024.

POULTRY – Although the typical demand at the beginning of the month usually boosts chicken prices in this period, quotations moved down in many regions surveyed by Cepea in early July. The decrease is related to the higher supply compared to the demand.

The high supply, in turn, is still a consequence of the restrictions imposed to Brazilian shipments by some countries after the bird flu case in Rio Grande do Sul, in May.

Although important trade partners have already returned purchasing chicken meat from Brazil, the domestic market could not balance supply and demand yet. 

Moreover, players from Cepea say that school holidays in Brazil reinforce the downward trend, as the demand reduces.

(Cepea-Brazil)