Energy
The Top 10 Biggest Companies in Brazil
The Top 10 Biggest Companies in Brazil
In 2009, the at-the-time emerging economies of Brazil, Russia, India, and China held their first formal summits as members of BRIC (with South Africa joining in 2010).
Together, BRICS represents 26.7% of the world’s land surface and 41.5% of its population. By GDP ranking, they’re also some of the most powerful economies in the world.
But what drives their economies? We’re highlighting the top 10 biggest companies in each country, starting with Brazil.
What Are the Biggest Public Companies in Brazil?
Brazil isn’t just one of the largest and most diverse countries in the world, it is also an economic powerhouse.
With over 213 million people, Brazil is the sixth most populous country on Earth and the largest in Latin America. It’s also the wealthiest on the continent, with the world’s 12th-largest economy.
Once a colony focused on sugar and gold, Brazil rapidly industrialized in the 20th century. Today, it is a top 10 exporter of industrial steel, with the country’s economic strength coming chiefly from natural resources and financials.
Here are Brazil’s biggest public companies by market capitalization in October 2021:
Top 10 Companies (October 2021) | Category | Market Cap (USD) |
---|---|---|
Vale | Metals and Mining | $73.03B |
Petróleo Brasileiro | Oil and Gas | $69.84B |
Ambev | Drinks | $43.87B |
Itaú Unibanco | Financial | $41.65B |
Banco Bradesco | Financial | $34.16B |
WEG | Industrial Engineering | $29.43B |
BTG Pactual | Financial | $25.01B |
Banco Santander Brasil | Financial | $24.70B |
Rede D’Or Sao Luiz | Hospital | $23.79B |
XP Inc. | Financial | $22.45B |
At the top of the ranking is Vale, a metals and mining giant that is the world’s largest producer of iron ore and nickel. Also the operator of infrastructure including hydroelectricity plants, railroads, and ports, It consistently ranks as the most valuable company in Latin America.
Vale and second-ranking company Petróleo Brasileiro, Brazil’s largest oil producer, were former state-owned corporations that became privatized in the 1990s.
Finance in Brazil’s Top 10 Biggest Companies
Other than former monopolies, the top 10 biggest companies in Brazil highlight the power of the banking sector.
Five of the 10 companies with a market cap above $20 billion are in the financial industry.
They include Itaú Unibanco, the largest bank in the Southern Hemisphere, and Banco Santander Brasil, the Brazilian subsidiary of Spanish finance corp.
Another well-known subsidiary is brewing company Ambev, which produces the majority of the country’s liquors and also bottles and distributes PepsiCo products in much of Latin America. Ambev is an important piece of Belgian drink juggernaut Anheuser-Busch InBev, which is one of the world’s largest 100 companies.
Noticeably missing from the top 10 list are companies in the agriculture sector, as Brazil is the world’s largest exporter of coffee, soybeans, beef, and ethanol. Many multinational corporations have Brazilian subsidiaries or partners for supply chain access, which has recently put a spotlight on Amazon deforestation.
What other companies or industries do you associate with Brazil?
Correction: Two companies listed had errors in their market cap calculations and have been updated. All data is as of October 11, 2021.
Energy
Visualizing the Scale of Global Fossil Fuel Production
How much oil, coal, and natural gas do we extract each year? See the scale of annual fossil fuel production in perspective.

The Scale of Global Fossil Fuel Production
This was originally posted on Elements. Sign up to the free mailing list to get beautiful visualizations on natural resource megatrends in your email every week.
Fossil fuels have been our predominant source of energy for over a century, and the world still extracts and consumes a colossal amount of coal, oil, and gas every year.
This infographic visualizes the volume of global fossil fuel production in 2021 using data from BP’s Statistical Review of World Energy.
The Facts on Fossil Fuels
In 2021, the world produced around 8 billion tonnes of coal, 4 billion tonnes of oil, and over 4 trillion cubic meters of natural gas.
Most of the coal is used to generate electricity for our homes and offices and has a key role in steel production. Similarly, natural gas is a large source of electricity and heat for industries and buildings. Oil is primarily used by the transportation sector, in addition to petrochemical manufacturing, heating, and other end uses.
Here’s a full breakdown of coal, oil, and gas production by country in 2021.
Coal Production
If all the coal produced in 2021 were arranged in a cube, it would measure 2,141 meters (2.1km) on each side—more than 2.5 times the height of the world’s tallest building.
China produced 50% or more than four billion tonnes of the world’s coal in 2021. It’s also the largest consumer of coal, accounting for 54% of coal consumption in 2021.
Rank | Country | 2021 Coal Production (million tonnes) | % of Total |
---|---|---|---|
#1 | 🇨🇳 China | 4,126.0 | 50% |
#2 | 🇮🇳 India | 811.3 | 10% |
#3 | 🇮🇩 Indonesia | 614.0 | 8% |
#4 | 🇺🇸 U.S. | 524.4 | 6% |
#5 | 🇦🇺 Australia | 478.6 | 6% |
#6 | 🇷🇺 Russia | 433.7 | 5% |
#7 | 🇿🇦 South Africa | 234.5 | 3% |
#8 | 🇩🇪 Germany | 126.0 | 2% |
#9 | 🇰🇿 Kazakhstan | 115.7 | 1% |
#10 | 🇵🇱 Poland | 107.6 | 1% |
🌍 Other | 600.9 | 7% | |
Total | 8,172.6 | 100% |
India is both the second largest producer and consumer of coal. Meanwhile, Indonesia is the world’s largest coal exporter, followed by Australia.
In the West, U.S. coal production was down 47% as compared to 2011 levels, and the descent is likely to continue with the clean energy transition.
Oil Production
In 2021, the United States, Russia, and Saudi Arabia were the three largest crude oil producers, respectively.
Rank | Country | 2021 Oil Production (million tonnes) | % of Total |
---|---|---|---|
#1 | 🇺🇸 U.S. | 711.1 | 17% |
#2 | 🇷🇺 Russia | 536.4 | 13% |
#3 | 🇸🇦 Saudi Arabia | 515.0 | 12% |
#4 | 🇨🇦 Canada | 267.1 | 6% |
#5 | 🇮🇶 Iraq | 200.8 | 5% |
#6 | 🇨🇳 China | 198.9 | 5% |
#7 | 🇮🇷 Iran | 167.7 | 4% |
#8 | 🇦🇪 UAE | 164.4 | 4% |
#9 | 🇧🇷 Brazil | 156.8 | 4% |
#10 | 🇰🇼 Kuwait | 131.1 | 3% |
🌍 Other | 1172.0 | 28% | |
Total | 4221.4 | 100% |
OPEC countries, including Saudi Arabia, made up the largest share of production at 35% or 1.5 billion tonnes of oil.
U.S. oil production has seen significant growth since 2010. In 2021, the U.S. extracted 711 million tonnes of oil, more than double the 333 million tonnes produced in 2010.
Natural Gas Production
The world produced 4,036 billion cubic meters of natural gas in 2021. The above graphic converts that into an equivalent of seven billion cubic meters of liquefied natural gas (LNG) to visualize it on the same scale as oil and gas.
Here are the top 10 producers of natural gas in 2021:
Rank | Country | 2021 Natural Gas Production (billion m3) | % of Total |
---|---|---|---|
#1 | 🇺🇸 U.S. | 934.2 | 23% |
#2 | 🇷🇺 Russia | 701.7 | 17% |
#3 | 🇮🇷 Iran | 256.7 | 6% |
#4 | 🇨🇳 China | 209.2 | 5% |
#5 | 🇶🇦 Qatar | 177.0 | 4% |
#6 | 🇨🇦 Canada | 172.3 | 4% |
#7 | 🇦🇺 Australia | 147.2 | 4% |
#8 | 🇸🇦 Saudi Arabia | 117.3 | 3% |
#9 | 🇳🇴 Norway | 114.3 | 3% |
#10 | 🇩🇿 Algeria | 100.8 | 2% |
🌍 Other | 1106.3 | 27% | |
Total | 4,036.9 | 100% |
The U.S. was the largest producer, with Texas and Pennsylvania accounting for 47% of its gas production. The U.S. electric power and industrial sectors account for around one-third of domestic natural gas consumption.
Russia, the next-largest producer, was the biggest exporter of gas in 2021. It exported an estimated 210 billion cubic meters of natural gas via pipelines to Europe and China. Around 80% of Russian natural gas comes from operations in the Arctic region.
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