E-commerce accelerates logistics demand, led by Southeast Brazil

Digital Fulfillment and Transportation and Logistics have accounted for 65% of occupied space since 2021; as Minas Gerais and Rio de Janeiro expand, growth is tightening supply and pushing national vacancy down to 4.42%

Pine Kyaw, Vice President of Shopee Latam; e-commerce remains concentrated in Southeast Brazil

By: SiiLA News

07/16/2026

Brazil’s logistics market has not only found its footing but also consolidated its position. At least, that is what the latest quarterly data from SiiLA’s Market Analytics shows: absorption by the Transportation and Logistics and Digital Fulfillment sectors combined accounted for 65% of the total area occupied between 2021 and 2026.

The new retail model validated during the pandemic has proved effective amid the exponential growth of e-commerce operations. At the same time, sectors such as Oil and Gas, Telecommunications and Insurance have been reducing their occupied space. The digitalization of services and the transformation of industries that once held a larger share of the country’s economy help explain this shift.

Digital Fulfillment, Transportation and Logistics, and Consumer Goods are currently the sectors occupying the largest amount of space. Their historic expansion reflects changing consumption patterns, but growth continues to concentrate competition in Southeast Brazil. Five of the largest variations among the leading sectors were recorded in this market.

Over the past 24 months, the state of São Paulo alone accounted for 76% of the growth in e-commerce occupancy. The sector also appears in four of the largest increases recorded across Brazil’s South and Southeast regions.

São Paulo drives industrial property expansion

Growth was also supported by Minas Gerais and Rio de Janeiro. Minas Gerais added 232,000 square meters in Transportation and Logistics and another 200,000 square meters in Digital Fulfillment, while Rio de Janeiro gained 208,000 square meters in the latter sector. The largest percentage increase was recorded in Rio Grande do Sul, where Digital Fulfillment expanded by 151.9%, indicating rapid growth despite starting from a smaller base.

Proximity to consumer markets is a central part of strategies designed to support deliveries within 24 hours, while specialists point to the decentralization of distribution centers beyond the main consumer hubs as one of the key issues shaping the debate. Even so, relying on the same established formula appears to be a difficult habit to abandon, generating consequences for the entire market through space saturation and the slow development of industrial properties in other parts of the country.

The rapid pace of expansion is raising concerns among market participants, who are attempting to keep up with demand amid fears that companies may soon have nowhere left to grow. Only 4.42% of the country’s industrial property space is currently vacant.

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