Purchases hit US$5.2 billion in five months, pushing the sector’s trade gap to its widest since records began in 1997
3-MIN READ3-MINIgor Patrickin Rio de JaneiroPublished: 5:33am, 30 Jul 2026Brazil overtook Russia and Belgium in the first five months of this year to become the world’s largest importer of Chinese cars, buying US$5.2 billion worth of vehicles as brands raced to land shipments before a tariff increase took effect in July.The figure, drawn from Chinese customs data, is up 146.9 per cent from the US$2.1 billion recorded a year earlier, when Brazil ranked sixth among buyers. Russia bought US$5 billion over the same months this year and Belgium purchased US$3.8 billion.
Electrified models drove the surge, accounting for US$4.5 billion of the total. April and May alone contributed US$2.7 billion, a concentration consistent with stockpiling ahead of the duty change rather than sustained demand.
Brazil also topped the global ranking for electric and hybrid vehicles specifically, ahead of Belgium and Britain.
Electric and hybrid models made up 87 per cent of Brazil’s vehicle imports from China last year, against 33 per cent in 2021, a shift that has remade the composition of the trade in five years.
10:08How Chinese companies have pulled ahead of Tesla in the electric vehicle raceFigures from Brazil’s foreign trade secretariat compiled by the Brazil-China Business Council put first-half purchases at US$5.35 billion, more than double the value of all vehicles imported from France.
