Weeks after the US election and later than many other foreign leaders, Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro on Tuesday congratulated US President-elect Joe Biden on his victory at the polls.

In a Twitter post in Portuguese, Bolsonaro quoted the US national anthem, writing "Greetings to the President @JoeBiden, with my best wishes and the hope that the USA will continue to be 'the land of the free and the home of the brave.'"

Bolsonaro said he is ready to work with the new government and give the alliance between Brazil and the US continuity.

During the election campaign, Bolsonaro openly supported incumbent president Donald Trump as his ally and announced that he would travel to Washington at the beginning of his second term in office.

He only congratulated Biden after electoral officials in the US confirmed the Democrat's victory over Trump - just under six weeks after the presidential election.

Bolsonaro is likely to face opposition from Biden, especially in environmental and climate policy, because of deforestation and fires in Brazil's Amazon region.

As a candidate, Biden had spoken of "considerable economic consequences" should more forest be destroyed in the Amazon region.