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In the world · Migration · 31 August 2026

Brazil and Colombia: US$5.4 billion in trade in 2025

Brazil and Colombia traded US$5.4 billion in 2025, and Brazilian exports rose 24.3% in 2026, says ApexBrasil. What ties the two countries.

bairogonzalez.com team, drawing on Bairo's story · Published

Trade between Brazil and Colombia totaled US$5.4 billion in 2025. Brazilian exports reached US$3.4 billion, up 6.2%, and Brazil closed the year with a surplus of about US$1.5 billion. The figures are in the Perfil de Comércio e Investimentos – Colômbia (Trade and Investment Profile – Colombia), launched by ApexBrasil at the end of August 2026, which also records a 24.3% rise in Brazilian sales to the country between January and July 2026 and maps 1,544 opportunities for Brazilian products in the Colombian market.

What happened

ApexBrasil, the federal export promotion agency, publishes country profiles to guide Brazilian companies. The one on Colombia paints a picture of a partner that grows quietly:

  • Brazilian export basket: the automotive sector leads, with passenger cars, auto parts and cargo vehicles, followed by green coffee, paper and paperboard, perfumery, medicines, electrical machinery and tires;
  • 2026: the 24.3% rise in exports through July was driven by iron and steel bars;
  • Opportunities: 1,544 active niches, mainly in machinery, transport equipment, chemicals, manufactured goods and food;
  • Investment: the stock of Colombian direct investment in Brazil was US$1.1 billion in 2024, in insurance, digital services, agribusiness and infrastructure.

Colombia has 53.4 million inhabitants and a GDP of US$457.1 billion in 2025, according to the same study. The Brazilian context helps measure the weight: in 2025, the country broke its all-time export record, with US$349 billion, according to the Ministry of Development, Industry, Trade and Services.

The relationship is also one of borders. The two countries share about 1,645 km of Amazon, with the Leticia–Tabatinga axis as the main point of contact, according to a December 2025 Migración Colombia report. President Lula's visit to Bogotá in April 2024 opened an agenda to expand trade and cooperation.

Why it matters

For Brazil, Colombia is a middle-income neighboring market that buys manufactured goods, precisely what the country most needs to sell beyond its commodity basket. For Colombia, Brazil is the largest economy in the region and an investment destination.

Trade between neighbors also involves people. Every container of auto parts or coffee needs someone who speaks both languages, understands both bureaucracies and trusts both sides. Immigrants are often that link. According to Sebrae, Colombians are already the third-largest origin of foreign microentrepreneurs in Brazil, with 10,547 MEIs.

In Bairo's view

Bairo Leandro Gonzalez Martinez was born in Colombia in 1982 and has lived in Brazil since 2002. In the story he tells, capoeira was the bridge between the two countries before any business. The chapter Capoeira was the bridge tells that beginning.

In his reading, trade between Brazil and Colombia is still small for the size of the two countries, and what is missing is not product: it is connection. For Bairo, a Colombian fruit producer and a Brazilian trader at a wholesale food market could negotiate directly, with a reference price and tracked payment, without five intermediaries in between. He often says the sun is for everyone, but shade, in the heat, is for few. In his view, trade that passes through few hands is one of those shades.

Where this meets the ecosystem

CEASA Bank, a financial platform for agribusiness that operates on the infrastructure of an authorized institution, was conceived precisely for this link. The proposal includes cargo pricing by an AI agent using data from the wholesale food markets and Conab (Brazil's National Supply Company), export freight calculation, an invoice generated within minutes and an account opened in the client's country. The international operation is a vision under development, subject to foreign exchange rules and each country's regulation.

At the other end, CLAIN proposes niche AI agents that translate and organize the bureaucracy of exporting and importing between the two countries, with a person always responsible for the decision.

Sources

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