Post-patent agrochemicals market has enormous growth potential: Albaugh

By Leonardo Gottems, Reporter for AgroPages 

President of Albaugh in Brazil and Argentina, Cesar Rojas believes that the market for post-patent products will have enormous growth potential in the next cycle, especially given the current economic scenario and the appreciation of the dollar. 

"More than ever, the Brazilian producer has to seek investment protection, pursue the best cost-benefit ratio in the inputs that he acquires for the harvest," Rojas said.

“High-quality post-patent products will stand out among the strategic tools available to the producer,” he said. According to the executive, in the harvest that begins soon, Albaugh will still dedicate most of its efforts to soybean cultivation, given the good performance registered by the fungicide Reconil (copper oxychloride) in the last two years. Over one million hectares were treated with the product, Rojas stated.

"With the consolidation of our investments in the manufacturing area, we will take on the stronger crops in corn, citrus, sugar cane, coffee and cotton, for example," Rojas reveals. It is on Albaugh's radar for the next few years, to launch at least 20 more post-patent products.

Owning the industrial unit with the largest capacity in the world to produce copper-based fungicides, the North American Albaugh gains strength among the main brands in the post-patent agrochemical market. With investments in the order of R$100 million in progress, the opening of five new distribution centers in strategic points of the country, regionalized sales structure and the recent inauguration of a new herbicide plant, the company shows optimism regarding the 2020-2021 harvest.

Albaugh also reinforces its presence in strategic points of agribusiness with five distribution centers of the brand are being opened in Hortolândia (SP), Carazinho (RS), Ibiporã (PR), Rondonópolis (MT) and Luís Eduardo Magalhães (LEM-BA). The expansion of the commercial structure also includes the opening of three new sales regions: Regional North/Northeast, Regional Grandes Culturas Paraná and Regional Cana-de-Açúcar. North/Northeast will focus on the MaPiToBa axis.

The Grandes Culturas Paraná Regional will operate in this state and also in the South of Mato Grosso do Sul. The Cana-de-Açúcar Regional brings Albaugh closer to companies in the sugar-energy sector, in the regions of Piracicaba, Ribeirão Preto and São Jose do Rio Preto, in the interior of São Paulo. “The sugarcane agribusiness is a strategic target for investments by Albaugh. We will significantly expand the offer of technologies for the sector,” Rojas said in conclusion.