Exclusive: Wheat milling exceeds 13 million tons in Brazil

The increase in consumption of wheat-based products in Brazil increased demand for the cereal and caused national crushing to exceed 13 million tons for the second consecutive year. According to research by Abitrigo (Brazilian Wheat Industry Association), 140 mills in the country, from 105 companies, processed 13.27 million tons of cereal last year, which represented an increase of 0.6% compared to 2024.

According to the entity, the growth in milling follows the change in the consumption profile of Brazilians, with greater demand for wheat derivatives, such as pasta, biscuits, frozen breads and pre-mixes. "We see that Brazilians are consuming more wheat-derived products. The sector is growing above the population", stated the president of Abitrigo, Daniel Kummel.

Most of the wheat flour that mills processed in the country was destined for baking and pre-mixes (30%). Next, the pasta industry appeared, which grew 3 percentage points in representation, to 18%.

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The biscuit industry accounted for 12% of the processed flour, followed by retail, with 1 kilogram packages of flour, accounting for 10%. Meanwhile, industrial breads received 9% of processed flour, sharing the ranking with 5 kilo packages. Then, the rest of the cereal goes into frozen breads, whole-grain flours and other foods.

In absolute numbers, Paraná remains the Brazilian region with the largest annual crushing (3.5 million tons), linked to the historical fact that the state is a strong wheat producer. Paraná has the installed capacity to process 4.4 million tons.

The biggest difference between installed capacity and annual crushing is in the regions of Santa Catarina and São Paulo. The southern state processes 474.6 thousand tons in 2025, for a capacity close to 700 thousand tons. São Paulo crushed 1.7 million, while it has the capacity to make 2.5 million tons.

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Rio Grande do Sul, an important wheat producer, crushed 1.3 million tons, compared to a capacity of 1.8 million.

According to the director of Abitrigo, the sector's profitability has been pressured by increased logistics costs and exchange rate fluctuations. "We ended up having impacts on import costs and also on domestic wheat," he said.

Also according to him, not all of this increase was passed on to the end consumer, which explains the relative stability of prices for wheat derivatives in recent months.

Despite the advance in crushing, Brazil remains dependent on imports. With production estimated at 7.9 million tons in the last cycle and consumption at around 12 million tons, the country still needs to turn to foreign markets to meet demand.

And Abitrigo's research shows that the Northeast and North depend almost exclusively on the product coming from abroad: 95% of the milling in the region was imported wheat. São Paulo imports 72% of its wheat processing. And in the Central-West, there is a better balance, even so, cereal imports account for 64% of the ground.

According to Kummel, this dependence has a structural and logistical relationship. "The mills close to the coast end up having much more convenient logistics for importing wheat than sourcing product from other regions of the country", he explained. He adds that this dynamic has existed for many years and makes it difficult for Brazil to achieve self-sufficiency in cereals.

The international scenario also worries the sector. The war between Russia and Ukraine, which began in 2022, had already raised global wheat prices. More recently, tensions involving Iran and the United States have also increased volatility in the international market. "All these factors impact the entire chain," he said.

Even in the face of uncertainty, the entity states that there is no risk of shortages. According to Abitrigo, the mills strategically work with physical stocks of between three and four months to ensure continuous supply to the consumer market.

Concern is now focused on global climate behavior and impacts on agricultural production.

"The environment is still uncertain and could bring complexity to prices over the next few months", said the director.

Source: CNN