Trade documents by commodity: what should travel with a Brazilian export

We are not a trader. We do not sell these goods and we take no position in the shipment. What this page does is set out the paperwork that normally accompanies each Brazilian agricultural export, who issues each piece, and how much of it is required by rule rather than by preference, so a buyer can read a document pack against what should be in it.

The short answer

There is no single document set for a Brazilian export. The pack depends on the commodity, and it splits into three kinds of paper.

Some documents are commercial and universal: an invoice, a packing list, a transport document. Every export has these, and they are the same for sugar as for hides. Some are regulatory and specific to what the product is, an animal product or a plant product, and these are set by Brazilian rules and by the requirements of your destination country. And some are there only because the buyer asked for them in the contract, an independent inspection certificate being the usual example.

The reason this matters for verification is simple. A document that should be mandatory and is missing, or one that is present but does not check out against its issuer, is a red flag before the goods have moved. The rest of this page is about telling those apart.

The commercial set, common to every commodity

These four documents travel with any export regardless of what is inside the container. They are ordinary international trade documents, not a Brazilian speciality, and their absence on any commodity is unusual.

Document	Who issues it	Required
Commercial invoice (Fatura Comercial)	The seller	Mandatory
Packing list (Romaneio de Carga)	The seller	Mandatory
Bill of Lading (Conhecimento de Embarque)	The carrier or shipping line	Mandatory. The ocean bill of lading is also a document of title
Certificate of Origin (Certificado de Origem)	Bodies authorised under Portaria SECEX nº 249/2023	Required where the importer asks for it or where a tariff preference depends on it

One more document sits alongside these but is not government mandated. An independent inspection certificate, from a company such as SGS, Bureau Veritas, Cotecna or Intertek, is produced when the buyer requires it in the contract, to attest quality, weight or count. It is optional in the sense that no Brazilian rule forces it, and it is worth arranging precisely because it is the buyer's own check rather than the seller's. Why authenticating the paper is not the same as verifying the goods is covered on pre-shipment inspection. Where a shipment is paid under a documentary credit, the same commercial documents become the ones the bank pays against, which is set out on letters of credit and collections.

The regulatory layer, by commodity

On top of the commercial set, each commodity carries a regulatory document tied to whether it is an animal product or a plant product. The tables below give the specific document, the issuer, and how the fact pack behind this page marks it: confirmed, or needing a check for the exact product and destination.

Coffee

Document	Who issues it	Required	Status
OIC/ICO Certificate of Origin	Authorised bodies: CECAFE and CNC (green coffee), ABICS (soluble), ABIC (roasted and ground), and regional trade associations (Santos, Rio, Vitória, Minas, Paranaguá, Bahia, Norte do Paraná)	Mandatory for any export or re-export of coffee, in bean or processed form. Set by Portaria MDIC nº 141/2003, under the 2001 International Coffee Agreement	Confirmed
Phytosanitary Certificate (Certificado Fitossanitário)	MAPA through VIGIAGRO, filed on Portal Único in the LPCO module, free	Required where the importing country's phytosanitary rules call for it, by product and country. Governed by IN MAPA nº 39/2017	Confirmed

Coffee is the clearest case. The OIC/ICO certificate is not optional and not tied to any one buyer's request. It is required for coffee leaving Brazil at all, which means its absence on a coffee shipment is not a paperwork gap to be waved through, it is a reason to stop.

Beef and poultry

Document	Who issues it	Required	Status
Certificado Sanitário Internacional (CSI), the international veterinary and sanitary certificate	The competent MAPA body: SIF (Serviço de Inspeção Federal), the Central de Certificação, or VIGIAGRO	Mandatory. Products of animal origin for export must travel with the CSI. Set by Portaria MAPA nº 431, de 19.10.2021	Confirmed
Plant cleared to export to your country (SIF number)	MAPA/SIGSIF, by destination country	A condition of clearance, not a document you receive. The plant's SIF number must appear in MAPA's list of establishments approved for your destination	Confirmed
Halal or Kosher certificate	Private accredited certifiers, not MAPA	By market. Halal is required by Muslim destination countries, Kosher by Israel. Not needed for other markets	Confirmed (general practice; the specific certifier was not checked against a primary source)

The CSI is the mandatory animal-health document. The SIF number is different in kind: it is not a certificate the seller hands you, it is a registration you check yourself. The same plant can be approved to ship to one country and not to another, because approval is granted country by country. That check runs through MAPA's SIGSIF list, and it is the strongest single verification available for the meat and poultry lines. Take the SIF number from the seller's invoice or label, confirm it appears in the list for your destination, and if it does not, the goods will not clear your own country's veterinary control whatever the paperwork says. The mechanics of that lookup sit on CNPJ and public registries.

Halal certification for poultry is the case where a market requirement, not a Brazilian one, decides the document. It comes from a private accredited certifier rather than from MAPA, and it matters only for the destinations that ask for it.

Sugar and soybean meal

Document	Who issues it	Required	Status
Phytosanitary Certificate (Certificado Fitossanitário)	MAPA through VIGIAGRO, on Portal Único (LPCO)	Set by the pair of product and destination country. Some destinations do not require a phytosanitary certificate for heavily processed goods such as refined sugar or meal	Confirmed as a service and as a country-by-product principle. Whether it is mandatory for refined sugar and soybean meal specifically was not closed by a primary source, see the honest gaps below
Quality inspection certificate (ICUMSA for sugar, protein and moisture for meal)	Independent inspection companies	Optional, by buyer requirement	Commercial document, not a government requirement

Sugar and soybean meal are plant products, so the phytosanitary track can apply to them. What the fact pack does not let this page claim is that it always does. The requirement is set for each combination of product and destination country, and heavily processed goods are exactly where destinations differ. So the honest statement is that a phytosanitary certificate may be part of the sugar or soybean meal pack, and whether it is depends on your country's rules for that specific product. Do not assume its presence, and do not read its absence as a fault, without checking the destination requirement first.

The quality side is separate. An ICUMSA grade for sugar, or a protein and moisture analysis for meal, comes from an independent inspector when the buyer asks for it, and it is a commercial document rather than a regulatory one.

Wet blue leather

Document	Who issues it	Required	Status
Sanitary certificate for non-edible animal products	MAPA's animal-origin certification regime under Portaria nº 431/2021 extends to non-edible products, and the tannery (curtume) must be an approved establishment	Depends on destination country. Wet blue from bovine hide does not fall under CITES	The general regime is confirmed. The exact mandatory document for wet blue was not confirmed by a primary source, see the honest gaps below
Tannery membership of CICB	The industry association	A legitimacy signal, not a document requirement	Confirmed as a signal

Wet blue is the case where the fact pack runs thin, and this page will not invent the missing piece. What is confirmed is that non-edible animal products come under MAPA's certification regime set by Portaria 431/2021, and that the tannery producing the hides has to be an approved establishment. What is not confirmed is the exact name of the mandatory sanitary document for wet blue, or how it changes by destination. Treat it as a regulated animal-origin product whose specific paperwork you confirm for your own market, rather than as a line with a named certificate this page can hand you.

What of this you can check yourself

A document pack is only as good as the parts of it you can verify independently, and several of these can be checked against public records before an advance goes out.

The seller's right to export at all is a public lookup: the company's CNPJ status and its foreign-trade clearance both show in free Brazilian registers, covered on CNPJ and public registries. For meat and poultry, the SIF number on the paperwork can be matched against MAPA's list of plants approved for your destination, which is the check described above. An independent inspection certificate can be authenticated with the issuer that supposedly produced it, a step already set out for the register checks on the parent verifying a Brazilian exporter track, so this page does not repeat it.

One document that looks checkable is not. The DU-E, Brazil's single export declaration, is filed through Portal Único Siscomex, and it does leave a real trace. But there is no public lookup of it for an outside buyer. Consulting a DU-E needs the exporter's own digital certificate, an e-CPF tied to the company's CNPJ, so a buyer cannot confirm a declaration in the government system alone. What you can do is ask the seller for the DU-E number and copy, and check that its details match the invoice. What you cannot do is verify it against the state independently, and any guide that suggests otherwise is describing a check that does not exist for you.

Where the facts are incomplete

Two of the commodities on this page carry a documented gap, and it is more useful to name them than to paper over them.

For wet blue leather, the specific mandatory export document is not confirmed by a primary source. The regime that covers it is confirmed, and the requirement that the tannery be approved is confirmed, but the named certificate is not, so this page stops at the regime rather than naming a document.

For refined sugar and soybean meal, whether a phytosanitary certificate is mandatory is not settled. The certificate exists, the issuing body and system are confirmed, and the principle that the requirement is set per product and per country is confirmed. What is missing is a primary source stating that these two processed goods do or do not need one for a given market. So the requirement is real in principle and unconfirmed in the particular, and this page marks it that way rather than guessing.

How to use this before a contract

Read the document list a seller offers against the commodity, not against a generic template. For coffee, the OIC/ICO certificate should be there and its absence is a stop. For beef and poultry, the CSI should be there and the SIF number should match your destination in MAPA's list. For sugar, soybean meal and wet blue, confirm the regulatory requirement for your own market first, because the fact pack does not let anyone state it flatly, and a seller who says a document is not needed may be right or may be cutting a corner.

Then separate the mandatory from the requested. The invoice, packing list and bill of lading are always there. The regulatory certificate depends on the commodity. The inspection certificate is yours to require. A pack that is missing a mandatory regulatory document, or that offers a certificate you cannot authenticate with its issuer, tells you something before the money moves. The wider pattern of forged and missing documents is set out on export scams and red flags, and the whole counterparty check sits under verifying a Brazilian exporter and the Sourcing from Brazil overview.

Sources

• Coffee OIC/ICO Certificate of Origin, mandatory for any coffee export, issued by CECAFE, CNC, ABICS, ABIC and regional associations: gov.br/mdic OIC certificate of origin page, Portaria MDIC nº 141/2003. Primary source.
• Phytosanitary Certificate, issued by VIGIAGRO on Portal Único LPCO, free, IN MAPA nº 39/2017: gov.br service page and the MAPA export phytosanitary requirements page. Confirmed as a service and as a country-by-product principle. Whether it is mandatory for refined sugar and soybean meal specifically was not confirmed by a primary source and is not stated as fact here.
• CSI for meat and poultry, issued by SIF, the Central de Certificação or VIGIAGRO, mandatory for products of animal origin, Portaria MAPA nº 431, de 19.10.2021: gov.br/agricultura sanitary certification page. Confirmed. The exact form of the CSI by destination country was not confirmed and is not detailed here.
• SIF number checked against MAPA/SIGSIF establishments approved by country: SIGSIF export establishments lookup. Confirmed. Halal and Kosher by market: general export practice, the specific certifier not checked against a primary source.
• Certificate of Origin issuers under Portaria SECEX nº 249/2023, and the commercial set (invoice, packing list, bill of lading, inspection certificate): from the payments fact pack, confirmed there.
• Wet blue leather: MAPA's certification regime for non-edible animal products under Portaria nº 431/2021, and the approved-establishment requirement for the tannery, are confirmed. The specific mandatory export document for wet blue is not confirmed by a primary source and is not named here. Wet blue from bovine hide is not under CITES.
• DU-E has no public buyer lookup: consulting it needs the exporter's e-CPF tied to its CNPJ. From the payments fact pack, confirmed against a secondary source consistent with the gov.br requirement.

Facts on this page were checked on 8 September 2026. Brazilian export rules and the systems that host them change, and the phytosanitary and wet blue points above are marked unconfirmed for a reason. Confirm the current requirement for your own commodity and destination before relying on any document list here.