Agrochemicals for citrus increase 30% in São Paulo，Brazil

The improvement in orange and orange juice prices provoked an increase of 30% in the sale of agrochemical for the citrus sector in the Brazilian state of São Paulo between January and April of this year compare to the same period last year. Capitalized, the producers from that state now seek to protect their crop – which had lower yields than 2015.

"The producers of citrus stayed for five years without investing. This year the sales are well, the price ranges between R$ 17 and R$ 19 per box, which is a good price and therefore producer have purchased more agrochemicals for the oranges that are being harvested,” affirmed the operations director at Agrofito, Francisco Ricardo de Toledo.

Among the states of São Paulo and Minas Gerais (world’s largest producers) 300.65 million orange boxes were harvested last season. For the 2016/2017 crop season, the main citrus park of Brazil (which includes 349 municipalities in the region) expects to produce 245.74 million of 40.8 kg boxes, according to estimates from the Citrus Defense Fund (Fundecitrus).

The projection represents a fall of 18% as a result of higher temperatures at the time of flowering, which caused flower fall and pellets. The Crop Estimates Research was done from March 28 to April 28 of 2016, through the total harvest of 2,200 trees distributed throughout the citrus park, according to age, variety and region.