Il South America it is becoming the farm of the world. After decades of stagnation, in which the export record of agri-food raw materials was firmly in the hands of the USA, for some years Latin America, in particular the Brazil but also theArgentina, has progressively gained space on the market, becoming less and less dependent on imports from the United States and indeed aiming to be, as far as the agricultural commodities, the reference partner for China and beyond. At the beginning of the 711s, Brazil's agri-food exports were worth a third of those of the United States, today they equalize it thanks to a growth of 20% in 213 years, compared to 65% in the USA. Over the last ten years, food sales from the US to Brazil have decreased by 46%, and to Argentina by 2023%. In particular, 56 was the year Brazil overtook the US as a corn exporter: 45,6 million tonnes against XNUMX million, the first time in history that the record eluded Washington.
South America, here's who exports the most soya
But it is even more significant the case of soy, a raw material that is increasingly in demand also as a component of biofuels, although its cultivation is not actually very in line with the preservation of green areas. A few years ago, Brazil overtook Argentina to become the world's leading exporter in a market that was once also dominated by the USA. The last year is clear: 102 million tons exported from Brazil, 57 million from the USA, only 2 million from Argentina due to a long and anomalous period of drought.
South America, the USA and the economic boom in China
In the 70s, the United States dominated the soybean market with 90% of the share, practically a monopoly. Today the share has fallen to 28%, compared to 58% in Brazil. The key was the economic boom in China, which is the world's largest buyer of soy: twenty years ago the Dragon imported 21 million tons of soy a year, now five times as much and of the 100 million tons of soy imported by In Beijing in 2023, as many as 75 million came from Brazil, which is therefore today the first partner of the world's largest economy, with which it exchanges agri-food raw materials in exchange for industrial products and investments in infrastructure. In addition to soy, there is beef, the demand for which from China has increased over time, allowing Brazil to overtake the United States in this market too, as well as in that of chicken meat. In the poultry market, in twenty years the USA has gone from 44% to 24% of the total exported throughout the world, while Brazil has more than doubled its performance from 17% to 36%. From 2000 to today, the US share of beef has halved from 19% to 10%, while Brazil is worth a quarter of the world market, and once again with China as a privileged customer: in 2024 Asians will import according to estimates 3,55 million tonnes of beef, out of a total sold globally of 12 million tonnes.
South America, the role of Brazil: who benefits from it
It should also be remembered that in 2023 Brazil was the first global exporter of 10 products of agricultural origin: in addition to soy, corn, beef, chicken meat, in no particular order also soy flour, sugar, coffee, cellulose, tobacco and orange juice. Not only that: fruit exports broke the record in 2023 at 1,34 billion dollars, a modest value compared to the global market but growing by 23,5% compared to the previous year, benefiting from the crisis in other countries cause of climate change. And it is not only China that benefits from this, to the detriment of the United States which sees its market shares in various agricultural products reduce year after year. Africa, the continent with the greatest food needs and room for development, imported almost 2023 billion dollars of food from Brazil in 10, a record value and a clear increase compared to previous years. Today Africa is worth 7% of Brazil's total exports, almost double what it was twenty years ago when it was 4% and was worth only half a billion dollars. The most imported product from Africa is sugar, which is worth half of the total, followed by corn, meat and soya, and even coffee, despite the black continent itself being a large producer of this raw material. The main partners of the country governed by Lula are Algeria, which imports agri-food commodities worth over 2 billion dollars, then Egypt with 1,6 billion, Morocco with 1,2 billion and Nigeria with 850 million. Food is disrupting geopolitical scenarios.