For the first time in nearly a decade, Brazil recorded a trade deficit with China in the first two months of 2025, driven by a sharp increase in Chinese imports, including solar panels and petroleum drilling platforms, the China-Brazil Business Council (CBBC) reported on Thursday.
The balance, however, shifted by the end of the first quarter, with Brazil reporting a US$700 million trade surplus with China.
The unexpected deficit, which reached $3.2 billion in February, was a departure from the surpluses that Brazil has typically enjoyed with its largest trading partner, and largely attributable to a record-breaking surge in Chinese imports.
Brazil’s total imports climbed to US$19 billion in the first quarter – an increase of 35 per cent compared to the same period a year earlier.
The surge, analysts said, was fuelled by concerns among Brazilian business executives about the growing trade war between Beijing and Washington.
Fearing an influx of cheap Chinese products as companies seek to redirect goods previously bound for the US, Brazilian industries – already struggling with high taxes and regulatory obstacles – were particularly vulnerable to the impact of the imports.
