Browse Data and Analysis

Colombia is the largest South American market for U.S. agricultural products and the seventh-largest market for U.S. food and beverage exports globally. Since the U.S. – Colombia Trade Promotion Agreement (CTPA) was implemented in 2012, U.S. agricultural exports have grown by more than 235 percent to a record $3.7 billion in 2023.

Chile remains the largest South American consumer-oriented market for U.S. exporters. Increasing wealth, lower barriers to entry, and the modern Chilean economy present opportunities for increased agricultural trade as COVID-19 restrictions and social-political tensions ease.

As countries roll back COVID-19 restrictions, foreign market demand for beef is becoming a bright spot for U.S. producers.

In the first quarter of 2021, U.S. soybean exports reached the second-highest value ever at $7.7 billion, nearly double the same period last year.

On June 28, 2019, the European Union became the first major partner to strike a trade agreement with the Southern Common Market (or MERCOSUR) countries of Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, and Uruguay.

The United States is the world’s largest producer of beef but it also imports more beef than any other country.

U.S. agricultural exports to South America nearly doubled in the past four years, reaching a record of more than $8 billion in calendar year 2014.

In the past decade, one of the most apparent trends agricultural trade patterns has been the growth in agricultural trade between developing countries or so-called “South-South trade.”