Brazil maintains agrochemical import volume, but value drops in the first half of 2021

By Leonardo Gottems, reporter for AgroPages

Brazil imported 272,218 tons of agrochemicals in the 1st half of 2021, according to a survey by Abiquim (Brazilian Association of Chemical Industry).

The result represents an increase of 0.8% compared to Brazilian purchases of pesticides abroad in the first six months of 2020, when 270,100 tons was imported.

In dollars, Brazilian pesticide imports totaled US$2.068 billion in the first half of 2021, according to the monitoring report by Abiquim. The value meant a drop of 2.4% in relation to Brazilian foreign purchases of phytosanitary products, which totaled $2.118 billion between January and June 2020.

Exports of agrochemicals produced in Brazil were vastly lower, totaling 21,566 tons in the 1st half of this year, equivalent to $149,761. The figures represented a drop of 11.8% over the 19,285 tons sold by Brazilians to foreign markets, which were equivalent to $142,055. In dollars, the increase was 5.4%, with the appreciation of the Brazilian currency, the Real, against the US currency.

In the general total of chemical products for all purposes, Brazil imported $25 billion in the 1st semester, an expressive 27.8% increase in relation to the same period in 2020 – the highest value registered so far in that period. Abiquim claims that this is due to the context of the positive outlook for the performance of the Brazilian economy for the year, with a more solid resumption of several activities that still felt the severe impact of the pandemic.

For the CEO of Abiquim, Ciro Marino, the results for the first half are simultaneously, encouraging, as they confirm expectations regarding the level of resumption of trade, and seriously alarming, due to the challenges on the agenda for competitiveness to transform the sector's investment potential into projects to be implemented in the short and medium term.

“Undoubtedly, the domestic market is a strategic asset for Brazil and only through the acceleration of structural reforms, the strengthening of competitiveness and a robust and effective trade defence system in the fight against predatory and unfair practices will we be able to maximize use the industrial park already installed and attracting new productive investments, bringing more jobs and income to Brazil in this new economic moment in which the post-pandemic world is beginning to take shape,” highlighted Ciro.