Argentina needs to import US$ 1.75 billion in agricultural inputs
Brazil
Belgian company Biobest Group acquired 85% of Biotrop Participações S.A. shares, for US$ 480 million. The deal should be concluded by the end of 2023 and has not yet been submitted to the Administrative Council for Economic Defense (CADE). The remaining 15% of the company will be acquired after a three-year transition period. In 2022, Biotrop’s net revenue reached US$ 56.08 million, with a net profit of US$ 6.26 million. (Biotrop Participações S.A.)
Ministry of Agriculture released registration requests of 32 equivalent technical pesticide products. (MAPA)
Ministry of Agriculture approved 30 pesticide registrations of equivalent technical products. (MAPA)
According to a research coordinated by professor Jussara Regitano, from the “Luiz de Queiroz” College of Agriculture, the organomineral fertilizers produced from sewage sludge are an environmentally safe alternative and as efficient as mineral fertilizers, with the potential to replace mineral fertilizers in some areas of the Cerrado biome. (Esalq/USP)
Delivery of fertilizers to the market reached 4.11 million tonnes in June of 2023, an increase of 15.7% when compared to the same period in 2022. In the 1H of 2023 were delivered 18.61 million tonnes, an increase of 2.4 % when compared to 2022. State of Mato Grosso was the one that delivered the most fertilizers, representing 25.
Ignacio Moyano Córdoba is the new business director of Rizobacter in Brazil. (Rizobacter do Brasil)
Anvisa approved the toxicological evaluation of a nematicide and bactericide (with a microbiological active ingredient not yet registered in the country), based on the bacterium Priesta megaterium, from Solubio. (Anvisa)
Federal Justice of the State of Amazonas has suspended the license granted by the Amazonas Environmental Protection Institute – Ipaam, to the company Potássio do Brasil for mineral exploration in the Mura indigenous territory, in Autazes, State of Amazonas. According to the decision, the activity cannot be carried out without authorization from the National Congress and consultation with the affected indigenous people. Furthermore, it would Ibama’s responsibility to issue environmental licensing, not Ipaam’s. (Federal Justice of Amazonas)
Lavoro, through its controlled company Qualiciclo Agrícola S.A., announced the acquisition of 100% of the share capital of Coram – Comércio e Representações Agrícolas Ltda., with headquarters in Ituverava, São Paulo. The transaction value was not disclosed, and the deal still depends on the approval of the Administrative Council for Economic Defense. (Lavoro Agro)
Port of Paranaguá, the main fertilizer port in Brazil, recorded imports of 4.34 million tonnes of fertilizers from January to June of 2023, a reduction of 20.6% when compared to 2022. (Portos do Paraná)
In compliance with a court decision, Anvisa approves toxicological evaluation of cyproconazole + chlorothalonil + trifloxystrobin from Rainbow. (Anvisa)
Sales of soybean nutrition and crop protection products in Brazil should reach US$ 11.44 billion in 2022/23. Biological products represent US$ 436 million. Sales of biopesticides in Brazil showed a compound annual growth rate of 39% over the last five years, with a highlight to bionematicides. In the last 12 years, the number of biopesticide registrations in Brazil has increased ninefold. (Superbac Biotechnology Solutions)
According to Daniel Hubner, vice-president of Yara in Brazil, the country imports fertilizers with a high carbon footprint. “We compete in an asymmetrical way and, perhaps, we suffer environmental dumping because we receive fertilizers with a very high carbon footprint, which compete in exactly the same way in the Brazilian market”, said Hubner. The vice-president of Yara calculates that, if Brazil stipulated a tax fee based on the differences in carbon footprint, nitrate from China would have to pay at least US$ 300 for its carbon content, considering the international market reference of US$ 100 per tonne of carbon. (Yara International)
AgriConnection, an agricultural inputs company founded in 2019, in Campo Verde, State of Mato Grosso, estimates a revenue of US$ 340 million in 2023, compared to US$ 280 million in 2022. (AgriConnection)
The coffee fertilizer market has grown more than 80% in the last three harvests. Approximately US$ 1.90 billion in fertilizers were sold in 2022/23. Plant nutrition products account for 78% of the investment in coffee inputs, followed by pesticides, with 22%. During the 2022/23 season, Brazilian coffee farmers spent US$ 540 million to purchase pesticides, 42% more than in the previous season. (Kynetec Brasil)
According to analysts from Bradesco BBI, three points are essential to understand the current situation of the agricultural input sector: 1) “Stocks of agricultural pesticides in the industry, which were around 10% above normal levels at the beginning of the year, have improved”; 2) “Input dealers have been opening between 300-330 stores per year, but by 2023 they will add around 270 or less due to a decline in agricultural input prices, while high inventories have led some of them to face financial challenges”; 3) “Private equity funds will represent at least 60% of the number of stores, compared to 40% currently, and the consolidation trend should continue. Currently, the Brazilian input retail market has around seven thousand companies.” (Bradesco BBI)
More than 8 thousand spraying drones were imported between 2020 and 2023. It is estimated that until 2026 more than 90 thousand of these drones will be imported. “Drones, which have precise spraying systems, allow for a more uniform and controlled application of pesticides, fertilizers and other agricultural inputs”, according to Leonardo Luvezuti, business director at Perfect Flight. (Perfect Flight; Sindag; Siscomex)
During the 2022/23 sugarcane season, for each hectare of sugarcane it was necessary to invest US$ 760.59 in agricultural inputs, with fertilizers representing 49.21%, followed by herbicides (17.54%) and seedlings (13.21%). (Pecege Consultoria e Projetos)
Federal Highway Police seized 680 liters of smuggled paraquat on September 05th in the city of Papanduva, State of Santa Catarina. (PRF)
Latin America
Authorities of the Mendoza province, in Argentina, finalized the selection process for an investor that should allocate US$ 1 billion to develop the Rio Colorado potash mine. “We have completed the selection process of proposals for the development of the potash mine in Malargue”, said the governor of Mendoza, Rodolfo Suarez. The construction period of the complex should take five years and the estimated annual production is 1.5 million tonnes. “The reactivation of this project will double the province’s exports”, said Suárez. (Government of Mendoza)
Argentina needs to import US$ 1.75 billion in agricultural inputs by the end of the year. Dollars are necessary to pay for the inputs, but they are in short supply. There is difficulty in authorizing imports and there is an expectation that the new soybean dollar, which began this week, might help in this process. (Ciafa)
Bioceres Crop Solutions, with headquarters in Rosario, Argentina, announced the financial results for the fiscal 4Q and fiscal year, which ended on June 30th of 2023. The fiscal year revenues reached US$ 419.8 million, an increase of 25% when compared to the previous year. The 4Q revenues reached US$ 104.7 million. “We increased profitability, as evidenced by a 31% increase in the adjusted EBITDA”, said Federico Trucco, CEO of Bioceres. (Bioceres Crop Solutions Corp.)
“The abandonment and crisis of the agricultural sector of Mexico will increase if the use of pesticides is banned”, said the president of the Mexican Union of Agrochemical Manufacturers and Formulators, Luis Cepeda. Cepeda stated there is uncertainty in the country’s agricultural sector because “the State attacks the pesticide industry on two fronts: through the Legislature, with initiatives that seek to ban pesticides, and through the Federal Commission for Protection Against Health Risks – Cofepris, which delays the authorization of new products”. About Cofepris, Cepeda said that “the delay in resolving the procedures in that agency is in practice a prohibition on the use of new technologies, because there is no renewal of obsolete registrations and new molecules are not authorized”. (UMFFACC)
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