Debunking myths: Brazil is its own biggest customer when it comes to beef.

Contrary to popular belief, which often suggests that "good meat goes abroad," production and export figures reveal a different reality: Brazil is its own biggest customer when it comes to beef. Approximately seven out of every ten kilograms of beef produced domestically end up on the shelves of Brazilian supermarkets and butcher shops. Only about 30% of production is exported. Julio Ramos, director of strategic affairs at the Brazilian Association of Meat Exporting Industries (Abiec), pointed out at a recent event with industry experts: "Traditionally, 70% of beef stays in Brazil. The top sirloin doesn't go abroad. We export mainly forequarter cuts, offal, tripe, tallow, and other similar items," said the head of the industry association at a meeting of the FAAP Agro League on April 16th in São Paulo. Brazil is the world's largest exporter of beef – in 2025 it shipped approximately 3.5 million tons – but the volume, for now, is mostly composed of so-called "ingredient meat." These are cuts from the animal's forequarter, offal, which serve as raw material for foreign industries to manufacture products such as hamburgers, sausages, ready-made meals, and so on. Projections from Conab indicate that national beef production has the potential to reach 11.3 million tons this year, a 5.3% decrease, but still the second-highest volume produced in the historical series of the federal agency. According to the Company's estimates, 4.35 million tons should be exported, an amount that, when evaluated within the historical series of beef cattle farming, exceeds the annual rates recorded between 2018 and 2024. "Last year, we shipped around 3.5 million tons," said Ramos. In the first quarter, total exports grew 32.29% compared to the same period last year, reaching US$4.32 billion. In volume, on the same comparative basis, growth was 10.98%, to 827,640 tons, according to data from the Secretariat of Foreign Trade (Secex), linked to the Ministry of Development, Industry, Trade and Services (MDIC), compiled by the Brazilian Association of Meatpacking Plants (Abrafrigo). The reality is that domestic demand is what actually dictates the pace of meatpacking plants. The external market is an important complement to the trade balance, but the real cash flow of the industries depends on the reach of the domestic consumer, breaking yet another myth surrounding agribusiness.

This text was translated by machine from Brazilian Portuguese.