Is it serendipity or part of the Plano Brasil Maior to expand markets for Brazilian products? The World Cup’s opening day is also International Cachaça Day.

Cachaça is Brazil’s national (distilled) spirit. And it is indeed one of the export products promoted by the Brazilian government’s economic growth initiative, as reported by the Instituto Brasileiro da Cachaça (IBRAC). The hope is that the 2014 World Cup will give Brazil’s cachaça the global exposure and sales boost that 1968’s World Cup in Mexico gave tequila.

A distilled spirit made from fresh-pressed sugarcane juice – cachaça differs from traditional rums, which are derived from molasses. This distinction was not officially acknowledged in the US until last year, when the Treasury Department’s Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau amended its regulations to recognize cachaça as a distinctive product of Brazil.

This is an important gain in a key target market at what may be a critical juncture. As the trade data (from Datamyne’s US and Brazilian databases) shows, the US is a top market for Brazil, but it has slipped in rank, even as its overall imports in this product category have grown.

More data:

Datamyne’s free report on US imports and exports of distilled spirits in first-quarter 2014 provides volumes and values by each 10-digit HS product code.  Click here to download the pdf.