Brazil’s agrochemicals sector anticipates business to guarantee inputs from 22/23

The crop protection industry in Brazil, which imports most of the raw material used by Brazilian farmers, has already closed deals on imported products to meet 65% of the national demand for pesticides in the new 2022/23 crop, anticipating in amid concerns about logistical bottlenecks from lockdowns in China, the biggest supplier.

Business is 10% to 15% more advanced than in previous years, but the industry would like to be even further ahead, Júlio Borges, president of the National Union of Plant Defense Products Industry (Sidiveg), told Reuters.

“We can’t buy everything we want, not because of a lack of production, but because of a logistical bottleneck,” he said.

He believes that these 65% of contracted products, and part of them in the process of being shipped to Brazil, should fully arrive in the country between the end of July and the beginning of August, when the first movements for the planting of grains begin, which starts in mid-September.

“Having 65% is a good number, but it is not all we need, our concern is constant”, he added.

Borges pointed out that the country is dependent on Chinese production of inputs and, at the moment, “there is a huge queue of ships stopped, and this has hindered a little” the operation in Brazilian industries.

The scenario is not as “desperate” as in 2021, when, according to the executive, the problem was with the production of Chinese industries, a fact that postponed a large part of imported deliveries to the end of the year.

Brazil imports more than 80% of the raw materials for the manufacture of pesticides.

On the demand side, even in the face of a scenario of rising production costs for the 2022/23 crop, also motivated by expenses with fertilizers – boosted by the war in Ukraine –, the expectation is that the consumption of agrochemicals will remain high, pulled by the proliferation of pests and diseases, and by the increase of the planted area in Brazil.

“If the fertilization is not done well, the risk of having to use more pesticide care is even greater, not less”, said Borges, noting that the price of commodities is high, which contributes to the producer not reducing the level of investments in the technological package for farming.

Balance

Farmers in Brazil treated 1.883 billion hectares with chemical pesticides last year, an increase of 12.1% compared to 2020, reported Sindiveg this Tuesday (10).

The treated area is the result of multiplying the cultivated area in hectares by the number of pesticide applications and also by the number of products formulated in each of the applications, said the entity based on data commissioned from Spark Consultoria, which carries out the research. with the farmers.

According to the union, the increase in the area treated with agrochemicals is due to the increase in the level of pests, diseases and weeds that are difficult to control in the crops.

For 2022, the expectation is that the treated area will grow from 8% to 10%, estimated Borges.

The market value of pesticides actually applied by farmers increased by 17.4% in 2021 in Brazil, from US$12.48 billion to US$14.65 billion.

Soybean represented 53% of the total value, with US$ 7.779 billion, while corn participated with 13%, and sugarcane, with 9%.

The president of the union said that there is influence of the increase in the prices of the products, in the face of transfers of costs along the chain. For 2022, he believes the market value will only advance by single digits.

In area, with 1.063 billion hectares, soybeans represented about 56% of the total, a growth of 15.56% compared to 2020. Corn was the crop that grew the most in terms of applications: 23.82%, reaching 305.3 million hectares.

Among the main products applied, insecticides were used in 27% of the treated area, followed by herbicides (23%). Fungicides were used in 18% of the area, more than double the percentage of seed treatments (8%).