Agrochemical Update Brazil & Latin America - 12/20/2023

Instituto Mineiro de Agropecuária is investigating the death of more than 15 million bees at a farm in the district of Miraporanga, in Uberlândia, State of Minas Gerais. The cause is suspected to have been the improper use of pesticides. Losses were estimated at US$ 86 thousand. Samples of bees will be analyzed at the Waste and Pesticides Analysis Laboratory in Belo Horizonte. (IMA)

Researchers from University of São Paulo and the Federal University of Viçosa have developed a sensor made of cellulose acetate, capable of monitoring pesticide levels directly on the surface of vegetables. “Electrochemical sensors can combine savings, fast detection, miniaturization, large-scale production, convenience, practicality, high selectivity and on-site detection of pesticides, allowing analysis directly on the surface and leaves of vegetables…”, according to Paulo Pereira , research coordinator. (USP; UFV)

SML is investing US$ 10 million to enter the Brazilian market. Half of the amount was used to acquire assets, such as pesticide registrations. The other half will be used to hire employees. According to Vitor Raposo, president of the company in Brazil, the opening of factories in the country is still out of the question, at least for the next five years. (SML Limited)

Alexandre Ricardo Alves is the new director of Mosaic Biosciences in Brazil. (The Mosaic Company)

Bernard Appy, the extraordinary secretary of the tax reform (Constitutional Amendment Proposal No. 45/2019), said the reform should create jobs and promote business. Even so, for products with health and environmental risks, the Selective Tax will result in increased prices. The inclusion of pesticides, however, will still be discussed in a complementary law. To facilitate the approval of the tax reform, the government agreed to exclude agricultural inputs from the Selective Tax, including pesticides, which benefit from a 60% cheaper value-added tax (VAT). Tax Reform should be enacted this week, in a session of the National Congress. Proposal was approved on December 15^th by the Chamber of Deputies, the Brazilian Lower House of Congress. (Agência Senado)

Federal Supreme Court will analyse the Direct Action of Unconstitutionality No. 5553, which questions the tax exemption for pesticides. This is scheduled to be concluded by February 2^nd of 2024. The analysis had been suspended on October 30^th, because of a request from minister Carmen Lúcia. (STF)

Brazilian Institute for Consumer Protection – IDEC points out “scientific gaps” in Anvisa’s report about pesticide residues in food. “The methodology does not assess the risks for children under 10 years, it does not point to conclusions about risks associated with the consumption of food with more than one type of pesticide detected, that is, the cocktail effect of mixing pesticides in food is not being addressed by Anvisa’s report”, according to a note from IDEC. (IDEC)

Glyphosate and its salts; 2,4-D; atrazine; mancozeb; and acephate were the 5 most sold pesticide active ingredients in Brazil in 2022, respectively, according to a recently released report by Ibama. Almost 383 thousand tonnes of glyphosate were sold, much more than the 101 tonnes sold of 2,4-D. Majority of pesticide sales happened in the Central-West region of the country, which recorded 292.8 thousand tonnes sold in 2022, most in the State of Mato Grosso. (Ibama)

Thais Clemente, vice-president of agrochemicals at the Brazilian Association of Fine Chemical Industries, said pesticide smuggling has become one of the biggest public safety problems in Brazil, representing a serious risk to the health of the population, who might end up consuming food contaminated with irregular products. “Gangs usually sell stolen pesticides to intermediaries, who pass them on to farmers, and there are cases in which products are adulterated to increase profits”, said Clemente during a meeting of the National Council to Combat Piracy and Crimes against Intellectual Property. (Abifina)

According to Welles Pascoal, CEO of AgroGalaxy, 2023 was a year marked by high agro-input inventories, and also by price adjustments for fertilizers. “All the work we did until the 2Q of 2023 and during part of the 3Q was to equalize our old inventory, with the return of part of our inventory to our suppliers, in addition to working on the pricing issues”, said Pascoal. “The year was not one of growth in terms of volume, of course there was progress, but it was much more focused on profitability than volume…” (AgroGalaxy)

3tentos and Caramuru announced the creation of a JV, with planned investments of US$ 81 million until 2028 to develop logistics and storage structures in the Arco Norte region [ports in the North and Northeast that are close to large agricultural areas]. Each of the companies will own 50% of the JV. “With this operation, we will be able to transport our products more efficiently, bringing operational gains for logistics and storage”, said the CEO of 3tentos, Luiz Dumoncel. (3tentos; Caramuru)

BBF – Brasil BioFuels, active in palm cultivation and biofuel production, has developed a composting process at scale in the State of Pará, using industrial by-products, transforming waste from the palm oil extraction process into organic fertilizers. Area built for composting is 25 thousand m², with capacity to process up to 90 thousand tonnes of organic compost per year, enough to fertilize 3 thousand hectares of palm. (BBF)

According to Roberto Araújo, director of Croplife Brasil, the results reported by Anvisa about pesticide residues in food, in which 25% of the samples were non-compliant, do not mean that the population is at high risk of poisoning. “Samples with residues above the MRL do not necessarily represent a potential risk to human health”, said Araújo. Another example of non-compliance could be the detection of pesticide residues in organic products, which, according to Araújo, is “a misleading practice, but which does not pose a risk to human health”. (Croplife Brasil)

Ibama seized two agricultural aircraft and fined companies for irregular use of pesticides in the State of Mato Grosso do Sul. Fines imposed totaled US$ 138,438 and eight companies were notified, and are required to present documentation for analysis. (Ibama)

With the decrease in prices of fertilizers, pesticides and seeds, the amount of resources needed to finance soybean in 2023/24 in the State of Mato Grosso fell to US$ 10.22 billion, 16% lower when compared to 2022/23. Money spent on fertilizers and soil conditioners fell 25.5%. Average expenses fell to US$ 836.55/ha, below the US$ 995.98/ha of 2022/23, but still much higher when compared to previous seasons. (IMEA)

Unigel now has 60 days of protection from creditors. In financial difficulties, the company had its first request for protection denied, but appealed and was granted urgent relief by the 2^nd Bankruptcy and Judicial Reorganization Court of the Court of Justice of the State of São Paulo. “This seeks to promote a solution to this crisis through an extrajudicial negotiation between the debtor and its creditors… If the negotiation is successful, judicial recovery [a court-supervised process that allows insolvent companies to suspend debts and negotiate new terms for them] could be avoided”, said the judge Paulo de Oliveira Filho. (Justice Court of São Paulo)

Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation allocated US$ 67.73 million to expand fertilizer production in the State of Bahia, through a contract signed by the minister of science, Luciana Santos, with the company Fosnor, which received this value in the form of credit. The company will explore primary phosphate from the city of Irecê. (MCTI)

Center of Excellence in Fertilizers and Plant Nutrition will be built in the Technological Park of the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, and should begin operating in 2025. This is estimated to create 300 direct jobs, through an investment of US$ 60.84 million. This value includes a contribution of US$ 7.1 million by the government of the State of Rio de Janeiro. The rest of the resources will come from the Federal Government. (UFRJ; Government of the State of Rio de Janeiro)

Farmers are more aware about the pesticide packaging issues, said Marcelo Okamura, director at the National Institute of Empty Packaging Processing. It is the legal responsibility of the farmers to return the pesticide packages, as well as to perform the triple washing of the material. Farmers must also deliver packages to the collection points indicated on the products. “We need to increase every year the capacity to reach all small farmers who use phytosanitary products, shortening the distance they need to travel to collection centers”, said Okamura. (inpEV)

32 gallons of 20 L of paraquat from Argentina were seized by the Federal Road Police on the BR-116 national highway, in the State of Paraná. (PRF)

Drought in Brazil affects sales of fertilizers for off-season corn. According to Guilherme Schmitz, director of market development at Yara, until the beginning of December, farmers had purchased only 60% of the estimated needs for fertilizers in the States of Paraná and Mato Grosso do Sul. In general, by this time of year, farmers would have already purchased 80% of their need for fertilizers. (Yara International)

There is not enough scientific basis to recommend remineralizers (silicate agrominerals) as a source of nutrients in agriculture, especially for potassium, or as soil conditioners, according to the researcher Vinicius Benites, from Embrapa. (Embrapa Solos)

Fertilizer Purchasing Power Index closed at 0.95 in November of 2023, a drop of 8% when compared to October. The lower the index, the better the exchange ratio for the farmers. The improvement was driven by the reduction in fertilizer prices, which showed an average decline of 3% compared to October. Decrease was led by urea, which showed a reduction of 12%. Potassium chloride fell 4%, while monoammonium phosphate prices rose approximately 2% and superphosphate prices remained stable. (The Mosaic Company)

According to Luciane Balzan, biostimulants manager at UPL Brasil, the use of physioactivators can help mitigate environmental impacts. “The use of physioactivators has emerged as a fundamental strategy to minimize the effects caused by environmental stress on crops. The technique involves the application of hormonal precursors (via seeds or leaves), which stimulate plants to produce, in a natural and balanced way, essential hormones so that they express their maximum potential”, said Balzan. “The market for specialty fertilizers – which includes physioactivators – is on the rise. In 2022, it grew 33%”. (UPL Brasil)

“This is a project that has already been under review for 24 years in the National Congress,” said Eduardo Leão, executive president of CropLife Brasil, about the Pesticides Bill No. 1459/2022. According to Leão, the approval of new molecules in Brazil takes approximately seven years, while the waiting time in other countries is much shorter. “The great benefit that this project will bring is to make the system more efficient and to speed up approval. No company today will launch any product that is less sustainable, less selective”. (Croplife Brasil)

“Glyphosate is the most used herbicide in the world and also in Brazil. Reducing its use and that of other agrochemicals is a trend for Agriculture 5.0, which seeks more sustainable practices”, said Jairo de Oliveira, researcher at the Federal University of Espírito Santo. Oliveira coordinates a project that aims to develop methods to quantify, reduce and stop the use of glyphosate from agriculture. (UFES)

Centro Universitário Integrado announced the creation of an MBA focused on agribusiness, with teaching staff made up of executives from Bayer, Syngenta, Basf, Case, Agrivalle, UPL, Helm, etc. (Centro Universitário Integrado)

Brazil has imported 405.26 thousand tonnes of technical pesticide products in 2022, and 283.3 thousand tonnes of formulated products. Local production of technical products reached 124.1 thousand tonnes, compared to 664.4 thousand tonnes of formulated products. (Ibama)

Innospec Inc. has completed the acquisition of QGP Química Geral, a specialty chemicals and agrochemicals company based in Brazil. Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed. (Innospec Inc.)

During the 2022/23 season, the adoption of biostimulants for coffee nutrition increased by an average of 20% in the States of Bahia, Espírito Santo and Rondônia. “The three States still remain below the national average, which is driven by São Paulo and Minas Gerais, and that show an adoption of 30% of the area. This regional growth, however, signals that there is significant potential for the expansion of this form of control”, said Lucas Montrasio, a specialist at Kynetec. (Kynetec Brasil)

Helm plans to enter the special fertilizers market in Brazil from 2024/25. “Despite the potential, the plant nutrition and biostimulants market in Brazil is still fragmented and poorly consolidated. What we are bringing is a perspective of stability, with all the know-how of a family company that is 123 years old”, said Helm’s vice-president of crop protection in Brazil, Sebastian Lueth. (Helm do Brasil)

Power Generation Company of the State of Paraná – Copel should invest approximately US$ 620 million to build a pilot plant for the production of low-carbon hydrogen made from biomass – organic waste, waste, sugarcane bagasse, etc. Hydrogen will be used as an input to manufacture ammonia and urea. “Our objective is to develop compact and modular equipment that can be used on small and medium-sized properties, allowing for distributed production of hydrogen, ammonia and urea”, said Fabio Sevscuec, research manager at the company. (Copel)

Agrion has opened up a fertilizer factory in the State of Minas Gerais. This required an investment of US$ 6.16 million and is the first of 20 that could begin operating by 2033. (Agrion)