“Although the price spike caused by last year’s negative impacts has passed and the outlook for 2024 is also considered difficult, we believe this will be a more stable year for the agrochemicals sector…”
André Savino is the president of Syngenta Crop Protection in Brazil, with a degree in agronomic engineering from the State University of São Paulo – Unesp and an MBA in business administration from Dom Cabral Foundation.
André Savino, president of Syngenta Crop Protection in Brazil
AgriBrasilis – Why is the agrochemicals market in Brazil expected to experience the “2023 rebound”?
André Savino – Agriculture in Brazil and in the world is very cyclical. I have been in this market for more than 26 years and have experienced crises of various kinds. 2023 was difficult for the entire industry and, in the case of agribusiness, it was a year of adjustments in which the sector faced major challenges, such as the drop in the prices of farm products and problems in the foreign market.
We were coming from a very strong demand in 2022, right after the end of the pandemic, which accelerated the supply of production and demand for food, including opening new international markets for Brazilian agriculture and fostering the use of technology in the farms.
Although the price spike caused by last year’s negative impacts has passed and the scenario for 2024 is also considered difficult, we believe that this will be a more stable year for the agrochemicals market, with fewer adaptations to market fluctuations. Even so, the scenario remains challenging and will require cautious management by farmers.
AgriBrasilis – What else defined the market last year?
André Savino – In 2023, the agribusiness industry was greatly impacted by high production costs and the drop in the price of the main commodities produced in the country. These two factors, added to changes in the average temperature and rainfall rates caused by El Niño, compromised the profit margin of farmers.
AgriBrasilis – What are the expectations after the approval of Pesticide Law No. 14785/2023?
André Savino – The approval of the law is a great evolution for the regulatory framework of pesticides in the country and represents the modernization of national agriculture. Without renouncing the technical and scientific controls of the responsible agencies, which are among the strictest in the world, the law will enable advances in the approval of new molecules and ensure a more agile process for the registration of efficient, technological and more sustainable products.
AgriBrasilis – Why was Syngenta’s revenue declining in 2023 and what is the outlook for 2024?
André Savino – The company’s income in 2023 in Brazil was affected by high working capital costs for customers, caused by higher and sustained interest rates throughout the year. This led many buyers to place orders for inputs closer to the application time, a factor that weighed heavily compared to 2022, when there was a record of sales and profit.
AgriBrasilis – What is the importance of distribution through Syngenta’s own agrochemical stores?
André Savino – Synap, Syngenta’s commercial platform, allows us to connect our services, innovations and technologies to farmers in the main farming regions of Brazil, providing much more efficient and well-positioned market coverage.
Through Synap, which is present in the main farming states with stores under the brands Atua Agro (States of Paraná, Santa Catarina and Rio Grande do Sul), Dipagro (States of Mato Grosso and Rondônia), Agro Jangada (State of Mato Grosso do Sul) and Agrocerrado (States of Minas Gerais and Goiás), we are able to serve our customers in a broader and more complete way.
Considering all the brands that compose it, Synap integrates more than 80 units. Together, they add up to more than 25 million hectares served by more than 350 commercial consultants, dedicated to the demands of farmers of all sizes and crops of various types.
One of our strategic principles is to build a strong ecosystem, where business chains work in harmony and bring us closer to farmers. This is possible thanks to the ecosystem formed by our partner distribution network, currently composed of more than 200 distributors, by the cooperatives that play a fundamental role in technological development, especially for small and medium-sized farmers, and by Synap.
AgriBrasilis – Syngenta typically launches 5 new products per year. What new molecules are expected to be released in 2024?
André Savino – Among the recent news, we had the launch of products derived from plinazolin, an innovative molecule that protects more than 40 different crops, such as soybeans, corn, cotton, coffee, rice and a wide range of fruits, vegetables and ornamental plants.
Plinazolin is a novel active ingredient, with a new mode of action, indicated for the control of a broad spectrum of pests for which existing products no longer offer such effective control, such as Hemiptera insects, mites, thrips, caterpillars, borers and even ants.
In the coming months, we will have two other innovations, which are currently in the registration phase. The first of these is Tymirium [cyclobutrifluram], a fungicide and nematicide for seed treatment and soil application; and Rizoliq UHC, the first long-life liquid inoculant for soybean seed pretreatment in the Brazilian market.
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