The Brazilian Trade and Investment Promotion Agency (ApexBrasil, in Portuguese) has announced a total of BRL 27 billion (US$ 4,76 billion) in investments by Chinese companies in Brazil. The funds will be earmarked for the delivery, fast food and renewable energy sectors.
The announcements were made on Monday (12) during the Brazil-China Business Seminar, closed by President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (Workers’ Party), in Beijing, the Chinese capital.
Among those investing is Meituan, a leader in the Chinese delivery market. The company announced an investment of BRL 5.6 billion (more than US$ 987,7 million) over five years. It expects to generate 100,000 indirect jobs and compete with Brazilian delivery company iFood. In Brazil, the Chinese group will operate under the Keeta brand, already used in Hong Kong and Saudi Arabia.
Another company is Mixue, the world’s largest fast food chain, with 45,000 stores, surpassing McDonald’s. The group will import fruit from Brazil to produce ice cream and cold drinks. In total, the capital invested will be BRL 3.2 billion (over US$ 564,4 million).
Envision also announced investments of up to R$5 billion in an industrial park for the production of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) and green hydrogen.
In addition, BRL 6 billion (US$ 1,05 billion) was announced from Great Wall Motors (GWM), one of China’s largest automakers; BRL 3 billion (US$ 529,1 million) from the Chinese state-owned nuclear energy company CGN to build a renewable energy network in the state of Piauí; and BRL 2.4 billion (US$ 423,3 million) from the Baiyin Nonferrous mining group to buy a copper mine in the state of Alagoas.
After closing the meeting, Lula said that “in the last decade, China jumped from 14th to 5th place in the ranking of direct investment in Brazil. It is the main Asian investor in our country, with a stock of more than US$ 54 billion,” said the Brazilian president after the event.
“China has often been treated as if it were an enemy of world trade when, in fact, it is behaving like an example of a country that is trying to do business with nations that have been forgotten over the last 30 years by many others. We must remember that,” he continued.
President Lula also spoke about the need to export products with more added value. “There are people who complain that Brazil only exports agricultural products and iron ore to China, in other words, only commodities. I just would like to say to people who think like that that, for us to invest in more sophisticated products, with more technological development, we must bear in mind that for a long time, Brazil failed to invest in education. It’s important to remember that we won’t be able to be competitive in the technological world, in the digital world, if we don’t invest in education,” said Lula.
“We have to export agribusiness [products] and use this money to invest in education for us to be competitive with China in the production of electric cars, batteries, in AI developing. Nobody is going to give it to us for free. We have to seek the trust of partners so that they share with us their know-how. That’s what we’re doing with China,” concluded the president.
China, the second largest global economy, stands out as the main Asian investor in Brazil and the main destination for Brazilian exports. Impressively, 28% of the total value exported by Brazil goes to China, which is also responsible for 41.4% of the country’s trade surplus.
Commodities lead this trade relationship, with soybeans (33.4%), crude oil (21.2%) and iron ore (21.1%) accounting for 75.6% of everything Brazil sells to the Asian country. In 2024, Brazil cemented its position as the largest supplier of beef, poultry, soybeans, cellulose and sugar to the Chinese market.
