EU-BRAZIL Investment Dialogue

Santa Cruz do Sul consolidates Europe as the main destination for its exports

Between January and July 2026, Santa Cruz do Sul (RS) registered a trade surplus of US$ 699.9 million, a result of US$ 772.3 million in foreign sales against only US$ 72.5 million in international purchases. With this, the municipality established itself as the second-largest exporter in Rio Grande do Sul, behind only Rio Grande, accounting for 7.2% of everything the state sold abroad during the period, according to a survey by the Ministry of Development, Industry, Trade, and Services (MDIC).

About two-thirds of Santa Cruz’s shipments have Europe as their destination, with Belgium in the lead, absorbing 36.6% of the total exported, followed by Poland with 10.8%. This performance is almost entirely linked to the tobacco supply chain, which accounted for 90.8% of the municipal export agenda, combining unmanufactured products and their industrialized derivatives. On the import side, inputs linked to the tobacco chain itself, such as textile fibers for filters and coated paper, also carry significant weight, making up almost 64% of the municipality’s foreign purchases.

The concentration of sales in European distribution hubs reinforces the strategic role of the continent as an outlet for tobacco production from the interior of Rio Grande do Sul, demonstrating how local economies in southern Brazil remain structurally connected to European demand for agricultural raw materials. This pattern of dependence on a few markets, although profitable in the short term, also exposes the need to diversify destinations and add value to production—themes that should remain on the radar of producers and trade policymakers in the Brazil-EU relationship.

Read more at: https://www.gaz.com.br/europa-responde-por-dois-em-cada-tres-dolares-exportados-por-santa-cruz/