Illegality in the agrochemical market is Brazil's big problem, says Sindiveg

At the evaluation of Sindiveg (National Union of the Crop Protection Products Industry), “the market of agrochemicals (in Brazil) as a whole is losing to the illegal trade of products”. This was one of the major problems pointed out by the entity for the fall of 21.56% in sales of crop protection products in 2015.

Only in the insecticides class – which sold most in Brazil – the sales reduction was 35.2%, even though there was a growing demand for the use of these products for seed treatment. According to Sindiveg, current studies indicate that smuggling can reach up to 20% of sales of agrochemicals in Brazil.

"The illegal market is a major problem in the industry, not only because of economic issues impacted by the irregular activities, but, mostly, because of food security and risk environment contamination. We do not know the safety of those products in the field and, as a result, on the table of the population, since they do not pass the scrutiny of regulators,” comments Silvia Fagnani, executive vice-president of Sindiveg.

One example of uncontrolled illegal trade in the region is Paraguay that imported no less than US$ 100 million Emamectin Benzoate beyond the domestic need. The surplus of this insecticide was “probably all used in the Brazilian market informally, without agrochemical registration nor import regulation,” affirms the entity in a statement.