China targets Brazil with billion-dollar investments by 2032

Faced with the imposition of US tariffs on imported products, Brazil has sought to diversify its exports and aims to strengthen its trade partnership with China.

By 2032, Chinese companies expect to invest more than R$27 billion in Brazilian territory, according to data from ApexBrasil .

Investments cover key sectors of the economy such as mobility, renewable energy, technology, mining and semiconductors.

The resources will also be applied to the delivery and fast food segments.

China is Brazil's main trading partner, accounting for 28% of total exports and 41.4% of Brazil's trade surplus.

Commodities such as soybeans (33.4%), crude oil (21.2%) and iron ore (21.1%) represented 75.6% of the total exported by Brazilian producers to the Chinese.

GWM

The Chinese automaker announced R$6 billion to expand its operations in Brazil. The investments will be made between 2027 and 2032 to add two models to its production line in Brazil.

The resources are in addition to the R$4 billion invested between 2022 and 2025 to reactivate the Iracemápolis (SP) factory.

Meituan

Meituan, a leader in China's delivery market, is entering the Brazilian delivery market. The company announced an investment of over R$5 billion over the next five years.

The operation will be carried out under the Keeta brand, already used in Hong Kong and Saudi Arabia. The operation is expected to generate approximately 100,000 indirect jobs.

The Chinese company also plans to implement an operations center in the Northeast.

Envision Energy

Envision Energy announced R$5 billion in investments for the construction of Latin America's first Net-Zero Industrial Park in Rio de Janeiro.

The industrial plant's focus will be the production of SAF (Sustainable Aviation Fuel), green hydrogen and green ammonia.

CGN

CGN will invest R$3 billion in a renewable energy hub in Piauí, focusing on wind, solar, and energy storage, with an expected creation of over 5,000 jobs during the construction of the units. The projected installed capacity is up to 1.4 GW.

Mix

The fast food chain Mixue will start buying fruit from Brazil to make ice cream and cold drinks, such as teas.

The company will begin operations in Brazil with capital of R$3.2 billion and projects 25,000 jobs by 2030. The first series of stores has been confirmed in São Paulo.

Baiyin Nonferrous

Mining company Baiyin Nonferrous invested R$2.4 billion in the acquisition of mining company Vale Verde. The operation has the annual production capacity of 400,000 tons of copper, 400,000 tons of lead and zinc, 15 tons of gold, and 500 tons of silver.

Chinese demand for copper drove the acquisition.

Longsys

In the technology sector, Longsys , through its subsidiary Zilia , announced an investment plan of R$650 million to expand the capacity of its factories in Atibaia (SP) and Manaus (AM).

The plants focus on encapsulation, integrated circuit testing and assembly of electronic devices with semiconductors.

Zilia has a national presence in the manufacturing of semiconductor components and also memory devices, DRAM and Flash memory integrated circuits.

DiDi

Didi — the parent company of ride-hailing app 99 — will invest in delivery services in Brazil and plans to build around 10,000 charging stations to promote the electrification of vehicles in the national fleet.

The company announced R$1 billion to relaunch 99Food and expand operations in Brazil.

Among the planned investments, there are also private partnerships between Brazilian and Chinese companies:

• Nortec Química and Chinese companies: R$350 million in pharmaceutical inputs;
• Raízen and SAFPAC: Agreement for the production of Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) in China;
• Fiocruz and Biomm: Local insulin production with the potential to benefit 16 million Brazilians;
• ABES and ZGC: Cooperation in AI, data infrastructure and capacity building;
• Eurofarma and Sinovac: Creation of the Brazil-China Institute of Biotechnology.

Published by Vitória Queiroz