Nortox defines strategies to compete with global agrochemical giants

The commercial director of Nortox S/A, João Marcos Ferrari, affirmed that the strategy of the Brazilian company to compete with global giants in the agrochemicals industry was “to do more with less,” allying “quality with simplicity. In an interview with Global Agrochemicals, the executive confirmed that this positioning was “more than a strategy (and) is in our philosophy, our DNA developed through all these years.”

Ferrari, an agronomist who worked at multinationals such as Bayer, Cyanamid, DuPont, and Arysta, assumed the role of commercial director of the north in 2016. “For our customer strategy, we are implementing a policy of defined and clear distribution,” he said.

Speaking of the role of the cooperatives in input distribution, he noted, “Generalizing in Brazil is not effective because of the different mergers of cooperatives and dealerships and the size of the rural area in each region. The role of the cooperative is fundamental for input supply, sales of the products, and for the farmers in general. Besides this, the cooperative also has a technical/agronomic and social function.”

Ferrari attributes the fall in sales of agrochemicals to the devaluation of Brazil’s real compared with the US dollar. “There is no reduction in product volume. But, as far as Nortox is concerned, we could not evaluate the performance of the company in the market last year because we had to restructure the commercial department and create the marketing strategy. Therefore, our growth in the first semester was fantastic! For the second semester, we are closely following developments in regions that are negatively affected by the climate and monitoring the large debts of the farmers. However, we are very optimistic about most of the regions and crops, where prices and the climate forecast are favorable.”

Talking about the sugarcane market, the executive pointed out that the sector showed signs of recovery in the short term, after suffering some unfavorable crop seasons. “Obviously, this recovery will not happen in one year. We need a longer period of good results. It is hard to predict, but we believe in the sector and have an important portfolio, as well as a strong partnership and relationship customers dating back several years. We will continue to invest in the development and launch of new products. This year, we will hire staff exclusively for our sugarcane department, a clear sign that this sector is important to Nortox,” he concluded.

A Brazilian company founded on April 14, 1954, in Apucarana (Paraná), Nortox started out in the powder insecticide industry, aiming to combat the coffee berry borer. Over a period of some decades, it has expanded into new markets, such as insecticides and herbicides for several crops, before entering the market of sugarcane and pasture in 2010.