`Brazil Removes Tariffs on European Olive Oil Imports - Olive Oil Times
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Brazil Removes Tariffs on European Olive Oil Imports

By Paolo DeAndreis
Mar. 28, 2025 18:44 UTC
Summary Summary

European olive oil pro­duc­ers and exporters are pleased with Brazil’s deci­sion to elim­i­nate tar­iffs on olive oil imports, as well as on other prod­ucts like sun­flower oil, pasta, rice, and meat, in an effort to sup­port house­holds affected by high prices. The move is expected to increase mar­ket share for major olive oil exporters in Brazil and comes at a crit­i­cal time in trade rela­tions between Brazil and the European Union, poten­tially ben­e­fit­ing pro­duc­ers on both sides of the Atlantic.

European olive oil pro­duc­ers and exporters wel­come Brazil’s deci­sion to remove tar­iffs on olive oil imports, which pre­vi­ously sat at nine per­cent.

Besides olive oil, tar­iffs have been reduced to zero for sun­flower oil, pasta, rice, meat, cof­fee, sugar, cook­ies, sar­dines and corn.

The goal of the Brazilian fed­eral gov­ern­ment is to sup­port the pur­chas­ing power of house­holds hit by high prices.

See Also:E.U. Removes Tariffs on Chilean Olive Oil Imports

According to Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, price increases have not been jus­ti­fied by ris­ing pro­duc­tion costs or infla­tion.

He cited meat prices ris­ing by 20 per­cent in January and cof­fee by 50 per­cent in the same period.

Olive oil was included as its pop­u­lar­ity has steadily grown among Brazilians over the last few decades, with con­sumers increas­ingly aware of its health ben­e­fits.

According to International Olive Council (IOC) data, Brazil con­sumed an annual aver­age of 96,800 met­ric tons of olive oil over the last five years, com­pared to 23,700 tons between 2001 and 2005.

While sev­eral Brazilian pro­duc­ers recently gained inter­na­tional recog­ni­tion for the high qual­ity of their extra vir­gin olive oil, domes­tic demand still far out­weighs national pro­duc­tion.

Data ana­lyzed by Olive Oil Times show that Brazilian olive oil pro­duc­tion has surged from six tons in 2013 to 531 tons in 2023. 

Luis Planas, Spain’s Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries, and Food, wel­comed the news. He noted that Spanish food exports to Brazil totaled €122.9 mil­lion between October 2023 and September 2024.

Although Spain exported 11,284 tons of olive oil to Brazil in the first nine months of 2024, Portugal remains Brazil’s largest exporter of olive oil. In 2023, 60 per­cent of Brazil’s olive oil imports came from Portugal.

According to the UN Comtrade data­base, Italy is also a sig­nif­i­cant olive oil exporter, hav­ing shipped approx­i­mately 4,000 tons to Brazil in 2024.

Walter Zanre, the man­ag­ing direc­tor of Filippo Berio UK, told Olive Oil Times that he expects Brazilian olive oil con­sump­tion to con­tinue to rise as prices at ori­gin fall in Europe.

“As prices [at ori­gin decline], that’s a mar­ket where we’re very keen to set up an office,” he said. ​“Italy is the biggest mar­ket fol­lowed prob­a­bly by the United States. We think that in time, Brazil might become the third biggest con­sumer of olive oil glob­ally.”

All major olive oil exporters are expected to increase their mar­ket share in Brazil fol­low­ing the removal of tar­iffs.

Speaking at the Expoliva event in Jaén, in Spain’s key olive oil-pro­duc­ing region, Planas high­lighted that Brazil’s deci­sion sharply con­trasts with the tar­iffs on food that the United States may soon imple­ment. Around 20 per­cent of Spanish olive oil exports go to the United States.

While Brazil’s move is dri­ven by its spe­cific eco­nomic sit­u­a­tion, it comes at a cru­cial time in trade rela­tions between Brazil and the European Union, where most olive oil is pro­duced.

Brazil and other Mercosur coun­tries recently signed a free trade agree­ment with the European Union, a sharp con­trast to U.S. tar­iff poli­cies.

Should the agree­ment come into force, it would cre­ate the largest free trade area glob­ally, with poten­tial ben­e­fits for olive oil pro­duc­ers on both sides of the Atlantic.

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