AgroPages-Glyphosate and Atrazine prices rise 3% in Argentina-Agricultural news

By Leonardo Gottems, Reporter for AgroPages

The Córdoba Cereal Exchange (BCCBA, Argentina) released its report No. 306, where it highlighted that the input/output ratio is more favorable for cereals than for soybeans. This is the same, despite the unfavorable international context, such as the highly valued dollar and the “retenciones” – the taxes collected by the government of Argentina on exports.

The purchasing power of soybeans increased by an average of 1.2%, mainly due to the reduction of grains necessary to acquire two of the main inputs, phosphate and gasoline, with decreases of 11% and 6%, respectively. Only two inputs have increased their price, glyphosate and atrazine 50, both with increases of 3% compared to the same month last year.

The improvement in the input-output ratio is due to several factors. On the one hand, the drop in the price of soybeans has not been as abrupt and corn has maintained its price, while most of the inputs have decreased their prices considerably. The products with the greatest drops have been monoammonium and diamonic phosphates, which went from a price of US$550 in March 2019 to $460 currently, that is, a drop of 16%. These are followed by simple superphosphate, atrazine 90% and urea, with declines of 12% in the same period.

For corn, the input-output ratio improved by 7%. Among the inputs, the ones that were cheaper with respect to the value of the cereal were phosphate, atrazine and urea, reaching a decrease of 17%, 13% and 12%, respectively. On the other hand, glyphosate increased the amount of corn necessary for its acquisition, requiring 2.5% more than in March 2019.

According to the report of the BCCBA Economic Department, wheat gained, with an 18.2% increase in its purchasing power, due to the fact that its price increased 11.1% compared to March 2019 and its main inputs became cheaper in dollars. Although glyphosate increased in price, it has a lower incidence on the costs of winter cultivation than the rest of the grains, so the cereal was less affected by this rise.