Brazil’s beef tallow industry seeks exemption from 25% US tariff
Brazil’s animal recycling industry is seeking the removal of beef tallow and related products from a new 25% US tariff. The United States bought 389,000 tonnes of Brazilian beef tallow in 2025, making the measure significant for exporters and US renewable diesel producers.
Industry seeks removal from tariff list
Brazil’s animal recycling industry is pressing for beef tallow and related products to be exempted from a new 25% United States import tariff. The Brazilian Animal Recycling Association, known as Abra, said it would continue using institutional and technical channels to have the products removed from the list of Brazilian goods covered by the measure.
According to BeefPoint, the Office of the United States Trade Representative confirmed last week that the tariff would apply to imports of a range of Brazilian products from Wednesday, July 22. Abra is coordinating with Brazil’s federal government, monitoring bilateral negotiations and supplying technical information intended to support a negotiated solution.
The association represents producers of animal meals, fats, blood derivatives, hydrolyzed proteins and palatants used in animal feed, as well as fats supplied to biofuel manufacturers. The tariff therefore affects a broader animal byproduct chain, although beef tallow dominates the industry’s sales to the US market.
US market absorbs most Brazilian shipments
Abra said Brazil exported 424,000 tonnes of animal recycling products to the United States in 2025. Beef tallow accounted for 389,000 tonnes, or 91.8% of the sector’s total shipments to that market. Tallow sent to the United States alone represented 42% of all Brazilian exports in the category to destinations worldwide.
Those figures leave Brazilian processors particularly exposed to any loss of competitiveness caused by the 25% levy. Unless exporters, US buyers or other participants absorb the additional cost, the tariff could make alternative suppliers more attractive and complicate the placement of a substantial share of Brazil’s output.
Abra’s board president, Pedro Bittar, said the measure was creating a barrier for a supply chain that is strategic to both countries. The association argues that maintaining access on competitive terms matters not only to Brazilian rendering businesses but also to industrial users in the United States.
Renewable diesel links the two markets
The United States imported 1.07 million tonnes of beef tallow in 2025, according to Abra. Brazil supplied 36.4% of that volume, making it a major source for the American market. The share is broadly consistent with the 389,000 tonnes that Brazil reported shipping to the country.
US companies have been sourcing feedstocks internationally to make renewable diesel, a fuel derived from renewable inputs but with the same molecule as fossil diesel. Beef tallow and used cooking oil are among the raw materials purchased for this purpose, connecting the tariff directly to feedstock procurement for US fuel production.
The importance of tallow within US animal-fat purchases has continued to rise. Abra said beef tallow represented 88% of US animal-fat imports in the first quarter of 2026, compared with 83% for the whole of 2025.
Negotiations will determine commercial impact
Abra said it is maintaining an intensive institutional agenda with the Brazilian government and advocating the removal of animal recycling products from the surcharge. Its case rests on the scale of the existing trade and on US industry’s reliance on imported raw materials.
The immediate commercial effect will depend on whether an exemption is secured and how buyers respond while the tariff remains in force. For Brazilian producers, the central issue is preserving access to a destination that takes 42% of the country’s worldwide animal recycling exports in the form of beef tallow. For US renewable diesel manufacturers, the measure raises the cost risk surrounding a feedstock for which Brazil supplied more than a third of imported volume in 2025.
