Brazil complained after losing the European rice quota to Argentina.

The government of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva confirmed this Tuesday the total exhaustion of the rice export quotas assigned to Mercosur for 2026 within the trade agreement with the European Union, after Argentina and Uruguay completely consumed the available quota.

The information was made official by the Department of Foreign Trade Operations (Decex) of the Brazilian Ministry of Development, Industry and Commerce, which acknowledged that the 6,667 tons available for this year have already been fully utilized by both neighboring countries.

In the statement, Brazil warned that new requests for export licenses with tariff preference will no longer be accepted as the quota has been exhausted earlier than expected, in another demonstration of Argentina's growing export competitiveness in international markets.

The news generated discontent in Brazilian productive sectors, which see how Argentina has been gaining prominence in various agro-industrial segments within Europe thanks to a combination of greater competitiveness, trade openness, and sanitary compliance.

Europe had already excluded Brazil from meat exports

This episode occurs just days after another severe setback for Lula da Silva's government in its trade relationship with Europe. The European Union recently decided to exclude Brazil from meat and animal product exports to the community bloc due to non-compliance related to antibiotic use and deficiencies in sanitary controls.

This precedent deepened the differences between the two countries within Mercosur. While Argentina continues to expand markets and exhaust export quotas in record time, Brazil faces increasing international scrutiny regarding the quality of its production controls.

The precedent of eggs and honey

The rice case also adds to other recent milestones in Argentine foreign trade. This Wednesday, the Minister of Economy, Luis Caputo, reported that Argentina completed the entire quota of egg exports to the European Union with zero tariffs in just 15 days.

In parallel, the country also concentrated more than 80% of the first honey export quota assigned to Mercosur by Europe. That quota was exhausted in just four days due to strong international demand.

The succession of exhausted quotas reflects not only European interest in Argentine products but also the recovery of competitiveness in the agro-industrial sector under the government of Javier Milei, after years of restrictions, bureaucratic hurdles, and tax pressure that had limited export growth.

Argentina, on the other hand, was authorized for meeting the standards required by the European market, consolidating its position as one of the most reliable suppliers in the region.

The European Commission excluded Brazil due to insufficient guarantees regarding antimicrobial resistance and sanitary traceability, while the Argentine system managed to exceed European requirements through Senasa controls and stricter sanitary protocols.