Brazil and China posted a record $142 billion in trade by September 2026, driven largely by a surge in Brazilian oil sales after the Strait of Hormuz crisis disrupted Persian Gulf exports to Asia.
According to the Brazil-China Business Council, Brazil is now running a $26.1 billion trade surplus with China. Oil sales to China hit a record $21.8 billion, up 49 percent from the previous year, as Beijing scrambled to replace Gulf crude cut off by instability in the strait.
Soybeans remain Brazil’s top export to China at 35.4 percent of the total, but oil has climbed fast to 25.8 percent. Brazilian beef didn’t fare as well, falling 8.5 percent after China imposed caps and punitive tariffs meant to shield its own domestic beef producers.
China is now buying half of all Brazilian oil exports, making it Brazil’s largest customer by a wide margin. China’s purchases run over a million barrels a day, with spikes above 1.6 million, dwarfing India’s roughly 238,000 barrels per day. Even so, Brazil’s sales to India climbed 165 percent this year, part of a broader 28.7 percent jump in Brazil’s total oil exports to all buyers worldwide.
The surge appears to be cooling as Gulf producers get back online and shipping traffic through the Strait of Hormuz picks back up. Whether renewed Iranian attacks on commercial vessels in the strait push China back toward Brazil as a primary supplier remains an open question.
Analysts have pointed out that Brazil simply doesn’t have the production or export capacity to fully replace what the Persian Gulf’s major producers normally supply. Still, the oil windfall has been a real boost for Brazil’s economy at a moment when Chinese tariffs on beef were already squeezing the country’s exporters.
Part of Brazil’s advantage is technical: its crude is compatible with Asian refineries that are actively trying to reduce their exposure to supply risks tied to the Iran conflict. Japan and South Korea have both signaled interest in buying more Brazilian crude, and Brazil’s government has been courting them as new customers.
Meanwhile, output has been declining among Brazil’s regional oil-producing rivals, including Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru, leaving Brazil with an even bigger opening in the South American market.
