Brazil’s olive oil imports rise 40.5% as major markets gain 4.3%

Brazil leads the import recovery

Brazilian olive oil imports increased 40.5% year on year during the first six months of the 2025/26 crop year, covering October 2025 through March 2026. Teatro Naturale, citing data released by the International Olive Council, reported that the increase was substantially stronger than the wider expansion recorded across major international markets.

The acceleration follows a comparatively stable 2024/25 crop year. Brazil imported 80,768 tonnes of olive oil during that campaign, a decline of 0.5% from the previous year. The latest half-year growth rate therefore indicates a sharp recovery in purchasing, although the source did not provide the absolute volume imported between October 2025 and March 2026.

Portugal controls 62% of Brazilian supply

Portugal remained the dominant supplier during the 2024/25 crop year, accounting for 62% of Brazil’s olive oil imports. Brazilian purchases from Portugal increased 20.3% compared with the preceding campaign. That combination of a large market share and continued growth reinforces Portugal’s position as the supplier with the greatest direct exposure to changes in Brazilian demand.

Virgin olive oils represented 85% of Brazil’s imported volume in 2024/25. Other olive oils classified under HS 15.09.90 accounted for 14%, while olive-pomace oils represented the remaining 1%. The product mix leaves exporters of virgin grades best placed to benefit from expanding demand, while the market for pomace oil remains comparatively limited.

Long-term growth despite currency-driven setbacks

Brazil’s imports fell to 50,000 tonnes in 2015/16 amid an economic crisis and depreciation of the Brazilian real. That level was 31% below the peak reached in 2013/14. Imports have since moved beyond the earlier record, and Brazil now accounts on average for approximately 9% of global olive oil imports and 3.1% of worldwide consumption, according to the figures reported by Teatro Naturale.

Annual consumption is nevertheless only 0.4 kilograms per person, indicating that Brazil’s aggregate market size is supported by its large population rather than Mediterranean-level individual consumption. Across the International Olive Council’s selected group of major markets, imports rose by an aggregate 4.3% between October 2025 and March 2026 compared with the same period of the previous crop year. Most countries in the group recorded higher volumes, but the United States and Canada moved against the trend with declining imports. For producers, bottlers and traders, the figures point to uneven demand: Brazil is providing strong growth, while two established North American destinations are offering less support to the global recovery.