Equipo ViaParaguay
Paraguay closed 2025 with USD 200 million in chia exports, according to a report by ABC Color published on December 13, 2025. The figure caps a year in which the sector also regained, in August 2026, full access to Japan's demanding market: Japan lifted the 100% inspection regime imposed a year earlier after detecting residues of atrazine — an agricultural herbicide — and returned to routine random sampling. The move was confirmed by five outlets — ABC Color, Última Hora, El Nacional, La Nación and Prensa Mercosur — between August 10 and 12, 2026.
A year of tightened controls, now over
The Japan episode is a lesson in what it means to depend on demanding phytosanitary standards to sustain an export business. In July 2025, Japan detected atrazine residues in shipments of Paraguayan chia and responded by inspecting 100% of shipments for a full year. Only in August 2026 did the regime return to its ordinary random-sampling mode, cutting logistics time and cost for exporters selling into that market.
How Paraguay got to USD 200 million
The 2020-2024 cumulative total, according to data from Senave — Paraguay's plant-health authority — and the Agencia IP, via the single export window (Ventanilla Única de Exportación), adds up to 213,323 tonnes exported over five years. The United States accounted for 35.39% of that total, followed by the Netherlands (9.74%), Germany (7.28%), Bolivia (5.25%) and the United Kingdom (4.71%). The 2024 campaign alone topped 68,000 tonnes.
The most recent boost came from July-to-November 2025: 46,000 tonnes exported, 14% more than the 40,000 tonnes shipped in the same period of 2024, worth almost USD 123 million, 42% above the USD 86 million recorded a year earlier. "International demand keeps growing, and Paraguay is proving it can meet the most demanding markets," said Adrián Baquer, president of the Paraguayan Chamber of Chia Exporters (Capec), quoted by Infonegocios. Those same figures work out to roughly USD 2,674 per tonne FOB, dividing USD 123 million by 46,000 tonnes.
A low-cost crop that fits inside the zafriña window
For anyone looking at the sector from outside Paraguay, part of the appeal is how little it takes to get started. According to ABC Color (July 12, 2025), planting chia costs less than USD 200 per hectare, with a yield of roughly 500 kilograms per hectare: gross revenue of USD 550-600/ha and net profit around USD 400 per hectare.
Planting runs from mid-February to April, a window that overlaps with the zafriña — the country's second planting season of the year, sown on the same plots where soybeans or corn were already harvested. The top-producing areas, per ABC Color, are Canindeyú — the largest concentration —, San Pedro and Concepción, in the Eastern Region, with Canindeyú and Concepción bordering Brazil; other industry sources also list Amambay, Caaguazú and Itapúa.
In planted area, the crop grew from 180,000 hectares in 2024 to a projected ~200,000 hectares for 2025: a mid-year projection (made in July 2025), not a confirmed final tally for the season.
How does a foreigner get into this business?
For a reader looking at Paraguay from Miami, Madrid, Buenos Aires or São Paulo, the question is how to get in: by buying, leasing, through a company, or with what financing.
Can I buy land? It depends on nationality and location. Law No. 2532/2005 (the "Border Security Zone" law), amended by Law No. 2647/2005 and still in force in 2026 — confirmed by Legal Opinion DGPEJBF No. 49/2025, issued by Paraguay's Ministry of Economy and Finance on June 23, 2025 — bars, within a 50-kilometer strip along the country's land and river borders, foreigners from bordering countries — Argentina, Brazil and Bolivia — without permanent residency, and companies in which such foreigners hold more than 50% of the capital, from owning, co-owning or holding usufruct over rural land. It doesn't cover "any foreigner": an investor from the United States, Europe or Asia faces none of this anywhere in the country, and the restriction no longer applies to bordering-country foreigners who already hold permanent residency in Paraguay. Since a good part of Paraguay's chia land sits in departments bordering Brazil, securing Paraguayan residency is, for an Argentine or Brazilian reader, in practice the key that unlocks the purchase; it's worth checking the specific plot against the official map from Paraguay's National Cadastre Service. On price: there's no reliable, up-to-date public reference by department — only scattered classified listings and outdated regional ranges — so before making an offer, a valuation from a local rural consultancy is the way to go.
Can I lease instead of buying? Yes, and even Paraguayan growers do it. According to ABC Rural (ABC Color, December 27, 2025), agricultural land rent runs between ₲1,800,000 and ₲2,500,000 per hectare per year — the guaraní (₲) is Paraguay's currency — the equivalent of roughly 800 to 1,400 kilograms of soybeans, payable as grain delivered to a silo; in the consolidated northeastern zones (Canindeyú, San Pedro), annual contracts run above 1,200 kg/ha. Farmland rent in Paraguay isn't priced in dollars but in kilograms of soybeans, settled against the grain price at delivery.
Do I need a company? Not to own land, but there are operational and tax advantages, and Paraguayan residency isn't required: a foreigner can hold 100% of the shares with just a passport. The fastest route is the Simplified Stock Company (EAS) — single shareholder, 100% foreign-owned, no minimum capital, set up digitally in 72 hours to two weeks — versus an SRL or SA, which need two partners and take longer. The real friction: the legal representative must hold a Paraguayan ID card, covered with a local representative while one's own residency is in process. Every company registers with the Public Commercial Registry and gets a tax ID (RUC) from the SET.
Can I get financing? State agricultural credit — the CAH and AFD/PROCAMPO — requires the borrower to be a resident of Paraguay: it isn't available to a non-resident foreigner, who needs their own capital or private financing.
Who's exporting
Leading companies in the sector include Hypergrain S.A., with a plant in Caraguatay (Cordillera) and a processing capacity of 10,000 tonnes, described as the country's largest exporter of organic chia, peanut and sesame, whose president is Sohichi Takahashi; and Healthy Grains S.A., which has operated in Luque since 2005 and exports to more than 40 countries — a considerable reach for a landlocked country.
How much of world demand does Paraguay cover?
Takahashi, who also chairs the Paraguayan Chamber of Chia Exporters (Capachía), stated: "Paraguay has consolidated its position as the world's leading chia exporter over the past 10 years, reaching around 50% of total global demand." Industry estimates published between 2022 and 2025 place that share in a range of roughly 50% to 80% of global demand. ABC Color reported in July 2025 that more than 20,000 producers take part in the sector nationwide.
For 2026, the sector's chambers project that planted area will grow between 20% and 25%. Capachía, led by Takahashi, and Capec, led by Baquer, are the sector's two chambers.
The risk worth keeping in view
Chia also carries a memory of volatility. During the oversupply bubble of 2013-2014, the price crashed from a range of USD 7,000-12,000 per tonne down to under USD 1,000, according to a report by Última Hora on August 11, 2014. The estimated USD 2,674 per tonne for 2025 sits well below those peaks, but it stands as a reminder of how much the price of a relatively young export crop can swing internationally.
The other, more recent risk is phytosanitary: the atrazine episode with Japan showed that a single residue finding can trigger a full year of 100% inspection on shipments to a given destination. For a country that, per Takahashi, covers roughly half of world demand, keeping access to exacting markets like Japan's depends on consistently meeting those standards.
If you're weighing a move into Paraguay's agricultural export sector from abroad, it's worth looking at the maquila regime under Law 1064/97 or the Bioceanic Corridor. And if you have a specific question — about residency, company structure or a particular plot — you can reach out to us.