Brazil pork industry expands talks with USDA as output and exports reach records
Brazil’s pork producers have stepped up dialogue with the USDA as the country expands production and exports. The United States bought only 17,800 tonnes of Brazilian pork in 2025, leaving considerable room for bilateral trade discussions.
Brazilian producers present industry capacity
The Brazilian Association of Pig Breeders (ABCS) has expanded its dialogue with the US Department of Agriculture as Brazil seeks to strengthen its position in the international pork market. ABCS government relations manager Ana Paula Cenci represented the industry at a meeting in Brasília organized by the USDA for a small group of representatives from Brazilian agricultural supply chains.
The meeting was led by USDA agricultural counselor in Brazil Frederick H. Giles. Participants presented the characteristics of their production chains and discussed trade and conditions in international markets. The talks come as commercial relations between Brazil and the United States, two major suppliers of animal protein, receive closer attention.
According to USDA data cited by O Presente Rural, the United States is the world’s third-largest pork producer, while Brazil ranks fourth. Cenci said the dialogue allowed ABCS to explain the position of Brazilian pig farming, improve its understanding of the international market and keep institutional channels open for issues affecting the sector.
Production and exports reached records in 2025
Brazil produced a record 5.656 million tonnes of pig carcasses in 2025, according to the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE). That was 5.5% more than in the previous year and the highest result since the statistical series began in 1997. Slaughter under some form of sanitary inspection also reached a record 60.69 million pigs.
Export growth has accompanied the rise in output. Data from the Brazilian Animal Protein Association (ABPA) show that Brazil shipped 1.510 million tonnes of pork to 94 countries in 2025, consolidating its position as the world’s third-largest exporter. This broad customer base gives Brazilian processors and exporters a significant international presence even though individual markets differ substantially in size.
The United States remains a relatively small destination for Brazilian pork. Shipments to the US totaled 17,800 tonnes in 2025, according to ABCS, compared with Brazil’s total exports of 1.51 million tonnes. The figures mean the US accounted for only a limited share of Brazilian sales abroad despite both countries’ importance in global pork production.
Dialogue puts market access and competition in focus
No new trade agreement or market-access measure was announced at the Brasília meeting. Its immediate significance lies in direct contact between the Brazilian industry and the USDA’s agricultural representation, providing a channel for future discussions involving trade conditions, sanitary requirements and developments in the international protein market.
For Brazilian producers and processors, wider access to the US could diversify demand for an industry whose production and export volumes are already at record levels. For US market participants, Brazil’s scale and established sales to 94 countries make it a relevant potential supplier and a strong competitor in third-country markets.
ABCS said it continues to monitor international trade discussions and their effects on the production chain while maintaining contact with government representatives and industry organizations. The outcome of that engagement will matter to producers, processors and traders in both countries, but the current talks should be viewed as institutional groundwork rather than evidence of an immediate change in bilateral pork flows.
