European agri-food exports to Brazil are entering a phase of profound transformation: while some tariffs continue to represent a significant barrier to entry, 2025 marks the beginning of a selective liberalization process destined to shift the competitive balance and open new trade routes in anticipation of the EU-Mercosur agreement. For over a decade, European products have faced double-digit tariffs on crucial categories such as meat, sugar, pasta, biscuits, vegetable oils, canned fish, and coffee, while specialty products such as olive oil, wine, and cheese have remained confined to medium-high tariff clusters considered sensitive for Brazilian agricultural production. Added to this has always been the burden of a complex tax structure—IPI, PIS/COFINS, ICMS—which continues to impact final prices and makes every entry operation an exercise requiring planning, regulatory preparation, and adequate sales force.
However, 2025 breaks a consolidated pattern: to contain inflationary pressure, the Brazilian government has temporarily eliminated tariffs on nine key food categories, including meat, coffee, sugar, corn, olive oil, sunflower oil, sardines, biscuits, and pasta. This represents a real and immediate change in the scenario, as it affects items that until recently had tariffs ranging from 7% to over 30%, now falling to zero, offering a direct competitive advantage to existing European producers and an easier entry point for those looking to Brazil as an opportunity for expansion.
In this context, TuttoFood 2026 takes on an unprecedented strategic role: the Milan edition will be the first major international platform to take place after the 2025 liberalization, offering European producers the opportunity to meet dozens of Brazilian buyers during a particularly favorable market phase. Cibus Link, through its weekly newsletter dedicated to South American retailers, already acts as a stable bridge with all the major Brazilian large-scale retail chains, ensuring continuous information and direct access to decision-makers who are rethinking their product assortments and import channels in light of the new tariff scenarios. For European companies, this combination—visibility at TuttoFood and ongoing communication through Cibus Link—represents a commercial accelerator that is difficult to replicate at other international trade shows.
The macroeconomic framework is changing further with the EU-Mercosur agreement: the text, politically approved between 2024 and 2025 and now in the ratification process, provides for the progressive elimination of tariffs on over 90% of traded goods, including most of Europe's most important agri-food categories—cheese, pasta, chocolate, wine, preserves, juices, and processed meats—with transition periods of five to ten years or through reduced-duty quotas. Safeguard clauses protecting European farmers are unlikely to curb exports to Brazil, which remains one of the world's most dynamic markets in terms of population size, average income growth, the tertiarization of the economy, and growing demand for premium products.
For European producers, the operating scenario is therefore clear: in the short term, Brazil's unilateral liberalization will immediately make segments such as dried pasta, biscuits, olive oil, and sardines more competitive, while high-value categories will have to wait for the EU-Mercosur agreement to enter into force to benefit from substantial reductions. In the medium term, the gradual elimination of tariffs will become structural and will require a review of commercial strategies: pricing, assortments, formats, positioning policies, and thorough checks on rules of origin, quotas, and transition times will be key elements in building a sustainable and scalable entry.
2025 therefore marks the moment when Brazil ceases to be a market traditionally considered hostile in terms of customs and transforms into a regulated, predictable area rich in opportunities. Those who can combine this new opening with constant commercial support—such as that offered by TuttoFood and the Cibus Link information network—will be able to position themselves ahead of global competition, which is increasingly attentive to the potential of a country that in the coming years is poised to become one of the main growth platforms for European agri-food exports.
