What Does Brazil Import From the United States? Products, Ports, and Shifts in Sourcing

A package made in Brazil may start with resin sourced from the United States. Pulp production relies on chemicals purchased abroad. And some of the fuels that keep the Brazilian economy moving arrive by ship, even though the country produces substantial volumes of crude oil.

These connections help explain what Brazil imports from the United States: petroleum products, solid fuels, caustic soda, fertilizers, plastics, chemicals, machinery, and auto parts. These goods supply different stages of Brazilian manufacturing and consumption.

For companies involved in international procurement, knowing which goods are imported is only the starting point. It is equally important to understand how volumes are changing, which ports handle the shipments, and where else Brazilian buyers source the same products.

Datamar data show substantial changes in these trade flows. From January through August 2026, Brazil’s seaborne imports from the United States fell 14% by weight and 31.6% in TEUs compared with the same period of 2025. Behind those overall declines, however, some product groups grew while sourcing shifted sharply toward other countries.

What does Brazil import from the United States?

For maritime trade, the answer depends on how the cargo is measured. Energy products and chemicals dominate by weight, while plastics account for the largest share of containerized imports.

Between January and August 2026, Brazil received 20.29 million metric tons of maritime cargo from the United States across the containerized and non-containerized operations covered by the survey. Petroleum products and solid fuels together accounted for 55.64% of that volume.

Leading U.S.-origin imports by weight | Jan–Aug 2026 | Metric tons

Source: Datamar, maritime trade dataset (Liner and Tramp); selected groups.

Containerized imports totaled 150,807 TEUs over the same period. A TEU represents the capacity of one 20-foot container; it is not a count of physical containers. Plastics made up almost one-third of this trade.

Leading containerized imports from the U.S. | Jan–Aug 2026 | TEUs

Source: Datamar/DataLiner (Liner); selected groups.

The two measures tell different parts of the story. Metric tons track the weight of goods, while TEUs standardize container capacity. For an importer of components or resins, the trend in its own product category can look very different from the large energy cargoes that dominate the tonnage figures.

Why does Brazil import these products?

Brazil’s purchases reflect supply needs, technical specifications, and commercial terms. In some sectors, domestic production does not fully meet demand. In others, imports compete with products that Brazilian manufacturers also produce.

Fuels are one example. Producing crude oil does not mean a country can supply every refined product in the quantities it needs; refinery capacity and configuration also matter. Brazil is expected to remain a net importer of petroleum products, particularly diesel and naphtha, even as refining capacity expands, according to the Brazilian Energy Research Office (EPE).

Agriculture has a more structural dependence on foreign supply. Brazil imports roughly 85% of the fertilizers it uses, according to the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock. The United States is one of several countries supplying that market.

Industrial buyers also require specialized inputs. Metallurgical coal used in steelmaking must meet particular technical specifications, helping explain Brazil’s reliance on imported material, as described by the Ministry of Mines and Energy. Caustic soda is used in pulp, alumina, and chemical production, among other applications, according to Abiclor.

In plastics and chemicals, competitiveness and supply terms also influence procurement. Brazil’s chemical industry has substantial idle capacity, according to Abiquim, so it would be inaccurate to attribute all imports to an absence of domestic production.

What makes the United States a competitive supplier?

Feedstock availability is a significant advantage in petrochemicals.

According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), rising ethane production, driven by natural gas output and infrastructure investment, helped expand U.S. exports of ethane and its petrochemical derivatives, including polyethylene. The agency also notes the cost advantages that ethane-based production can have over alternative feedstocks.

That production base helps explain the U.S. presence in Brazil’s resin supply chain. For Brazilian buyers, however, the best sourcing option still depends on specifications, price, freight, taxes, lead times, and negotiated terms.

A country’s ability to produce competitively does not mean it will always offer the best option for every buyer. Monitoring actual trade flows can help identify shifts worth investigating commercially.

Why did Brazilian imports from the United States decline?

The 2026 decline was concentrated in particular product groups. Among containerized imports, plastics accounted for approximately 76% of the net reduction in total TEUs, falling from 99,912 TEUs in January–August 2025 to 46,929 TEUs in the same period of 2026.

By weight, crude oil contributed significantly to the decrease. Shipments fell from 2.38 million to 989,000 metric tons, accounting for approximately 42% of the net drop in total import tonnage from the United States.

These figures identify where volumes fell, but they do not establish why. For crude oil, for example, it would be necessary to examine other countries of origin and refinery operations before drawing conclusions about changes in Brazil’s supply mix.

Trade data provide a clearer picture for ethylene polymers: Brazil increased its overall maritime imports of the product group while buying substantially less from the United States.

Polyethylene: imports rise as the U.S. loses market share

From January through August 2026, Brazil’s seaborne imports of ethylene polymers totaled 1.34 million metric tons, up 4.5% year over year. Imports from the United States, however, fell 57.3%.

Brazilian seaborne imports of ethylene polymers by origin | Jan–Aug 2025 vs. 2026 | Metric tons

Source: Datamar, maritime trade dataset (Liner and Tramp). Totals include other origins.

As a result, the U.S. share of this trade fell from 74.1% to 30.3%. Imports from Argentina, China, and Saudi Arabia all increased, reshaping Brazil’s sourcing mix.

These shifts took place during a change in Brazil’s import rules. In August 2025, the government imposed provisional antidumping duties on certain polyethylene resins from the United States and Canada, followed by definitive duties in April 2026. The measures apply to specified products and tariff classifications, not automatically to every ethylene polymer covered by Datamar’s broader trade category. They are relevant context but do not, by themselves, prove what caused the decline in U.S. shipments.

For procurement teams, the practical lesson is that a decline in shipments from one country does not necessarily mean that the overall import market is shrinking. In this case, Brazil bought more of the product group even as the U.S. lost share.

The changes also provide leads for supplier research, without assuming that the goods are interchangeable or that the alternatives will cost less. Product specifications and commercial conditions still need to be checked.

Which Brazilian ports receive imports from the United States?

The port ranking also depends on the type of cargo being analyzed.

By weight, including both containerized and non-containerized cargo, Santos led the January–August 2026 survey with 3.19 million metric tons, or 15.72% of the total. Praia Mole followed with 1.82 million metric tons and Itaqui with 1.63 million.

The concentration was much greater for containers. Santos accounted for 57.35% of TEUs, followed by Manaus and Itapoá.

Main Brazilian entry ports for U.S. containerized cargo | Jan–Aug 2026 | TEUs

Source: Datamar/DataLiner (Liner); ports as classified in the dataset.

A port can move in opposite directions across these measures. Santos grew 2% by weight but handled fewer TEUs. Paranaguá increased 40.9% in tonnage while its containerized flow fell 25.1%.

For importers, this makes it important to examine the ports used by their own products. A port’s overall result may be driven by cargoes and operations that have little to do with a particular company’s supply chain.

How can companies use these data in purchasing decisions?

The ethylene polymers example shows why product, origin, and period need to be analyzed together. Looking only at the decline in U.S. shipments might suggest a contraction in Brazilian demand. The comparison with other origins tells a different story.

The next step is to examine the companies and logistics networks involved: which businesses are active in these flows, which ports receive their cargoes, and how regularly they import.

Datamar’s DataLiner platform allows users to analyze the maritime trade flows it covers by product, company, country, port, and ocean carrier. These cross-references can inform supplier research and competitor monitoring.

Understanding what Brazil imports from the United States is therefore the beginning of a broader sourcing analysis. The data show where markets are shifting and which questions buyers need to take into negotiations, from reliance on one origin to the growing presence of alternative suppliers.

Want to track these changes in your industry? Request a DataLiner demo to learn more about the available product, company, origin, and port analyses that can support your international purchasing decisions.