AgroPages-Top 20 Brazilian agrochem companies in 2018: Market recovery led to across-the-board sales growth-Agricultural news

Leonardo Gottems

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By Leonardo Gottems, Reporter for AgroPages

According to data released by AENDA (Brazilian Association of Generic Pesticides), sales of agrochemicals in Brazil (based on sales data of the companies) totaled US$10.793 billion in 2018, a significant increase of 21.3% compared to the performance of agrochemical companies in 2017, which totaled US$8.9 billion.

This performance represents the first high point of the agrochemical sector after four consecutive negative years in Brazil. Major agrochemical companies have not seen positive sales since 2014, when they made US$12.3 billion.

According to data from the National Union of Plant Protection Products Industry (Sindiveg), the revenues earned by agrochemical companies in Brazil were slightly lower at US$10.52 billion last year. The herbicides segment continued to register the highest sales income at US$3.42 billion, followed by insecticides at US$3.07 billion, fungicides at US$2.97 billion, and all other types of pesticides (acaricides, nematicides, miticides, formicides, bactericides and others) totaling US$1.06 billion.

Among crops, soy continues to have the largest share of agrochemical purchases at 50.25%. The oilseed is followed by sugarcane at 11.70%, corn at 10.64%, cotton at 8.86%, coffee at 3.14%, pasture at 3.00%, citrus at 1.95%, winter crops (wheat, oats, rye and barley) at 1.91%, rice at 1.39%, beans at 1.38%, and others at 5.78%.

Data on agrochemical sales by region in Brazil in 2018 showed that the Midwest is the leading buyer at US$3.969 billion. In second place is the Southeast Region with US$2.535 billion, followed by the South Region with US$2.519 billion, the Northeast Region with US$1.092 billion, and the North Region with US$0.408 million.

A total of 276.83 thousand tons of generic pesticides were sold last year, generating revenues of US$4.84 billion. On the other hand, 63.33 thousand tons of proprietary products were sold in 2018, equivalent to US$5.57 billion.

One of the highlights was the sale of biological pesticides, which grew by 77% in 2018, with revenues of US$114.3 million compared to US$64.5 million in 2017, according to the Brazilian Association of Biological Control Companies (ABCBio).

According to the association's new chief executive, Arnelo Nedel, the increase in purchases of biofungicides, whose sales grew by 148%, was decisive. Companies have worked with producers to demystify and clarify the effectiveness of organic products, which was the main reason for this performance. There is considerable demand for more sustainable and less risky products.

Sales of top 20 Brazilian agrochemicals companies in 2018*
Ranking (By 2018 sales)	Company	2018 (mn USD)	2017 (mn USD)	change%
1	Syngenta	2,000	1,587	+26.0
2	Bayer	1,685	1,036	+62.6
3	Corteva	1,180	-	-
4	BASF	990	890	+11.2
5	UPL	961	500	+92.2
6	FMC	910	642	+41.7
7	Nufarm	594	504	+17.9
8	Adama	581	448	+29.7
9	Iharabrás	406	351	+15.7
10	Nortox	290	280	+3.6
11	CCAB**	260	173	+50.3
12	Ouro Fino	223	195	+14.4
13	Atanor/Albaugh	219	200	+9.5
14	HELM	135	115	+17.4
15	Sipcam Nichino	90	76	+18.4
16	Alta	68	-	-
17	Sinon	42	-	-
18	Stockton	40	-	-
19	Rotam	39	54	-27.8
20	CropChem	30	-	-
() Source: Aenda’s unoficcial survey & data provided by companies* () The fiscal year of CCAB starts in July 1st and ends in June 30th the following year. (-) Unavailable data

Syngenta has continued to lead agrochemical sales in Brazil, with its sales increasing by US$413 million last year compared to 2017. In the third year since the acquisition of the company by ChemChina, Syngenta consolidated its leading position without launching many products, through presenting new sales channel innovations, gambling on e-commerce and being the first company to open its own store in Brazil.

Bayer ranked second among the major companies, recovering from a sharp drop in revenue in the previous year and recording a sales increase totaling US$649 million in Brazil compared to 2017. It was also the year of Monsanto's acquisition. In Brazil, this was a period of structural reorganization, team integration and the combining of sales teams.

In third place is Corteva, a new crop protection brand that rose from the merger of Dow and DuPont. The company took over BASF's position, with a slight increase in revenue compared to the unified company's sales in 2018, with the sum of the two separate companies in 2017.

BASF dropped to fourth place, but its sales increased by US$100 million compared to 2017. On 1st August, 2018, BASF bought significant parts of Bayer’s seed and non-selective herbicides operations, as well as active ones. On 16th August, 2018, BASF closed the acquisition of Bayer’s global vegetable seeds business, mainly operating under the brand Nunhems.

UPL is now the fifth largest Brazilian agrochemical company in terms of sales, which jumped by US$461 million, following the announcement of the start of negotiations for the purchase of Arysta. The Indian company was favored for having a higher raw material supply capacity, especially after the closure of several factories in China.

FMC, Nufarm, Adama, Iharabras and Nortox complete the top 10 largest agrochemical companies in Brazil. The Australian company, Nufarm, continued to gamble on organic products in its final year as an independent company, before its South American operations were acquired by Sumitomo Chemical.

Nortox is the only Brazilian agrochemical company in the top ten ranking. In 2018, the company celebrated its 64th anniversary, launched a total of ten new pesticide brands, and announced the expansion of its operations to neighboring Paraguay.

Another company worth mentioning in terms of performance is CCAB. The company’s sales totaled US$259.7 million from 2018 to 2019, compared to US$172.5 million in the previous fiscal year. According to Eduardo Roncaglia (CFO of CCAB Agro), part of the company's growth from 2018 to 2019 is due to the creation of its Cropline platform in 2018, which generated almost US$20 million. Prior to the launch of this business unit, CCAB's market was restricted to its shareholders. With Cropline, the company’s solutions portfolio became accessible to non-shareholders, enabling it to expand its national operations.

The year 2018 was also, according to Aenda, the year when generic agrochemicals lost market share to proprietary products that are still under patents or without competition. According to the entity, this was due to the “extraordinary power” of the largest companies in the sector, which managed to reverse the prevalence of post-patent sales experienced in previous years.

“In terms of value per ton of product, proprietary products have always registered much higher numbers, precisely due to the lack of competition in this segment and the opportunity to sell at much higher prices and with more trade-compensating margins. Gradually, however, generics were incorporated into the portfolios of large companies, so that "got there" against smaller competitors and began to gain a larger share of this segment as well. After this happened, they began to control the sales of both segments,” explained the Association's Executive Director, agronomist Tulio Teixeira de Oliveira.