Wheat agrochemical market grows by 60% in 2022 in Brazil

The Brazilian wheat pesticide market reached BRL 2.4 billion (USD 470 million) in the 2022 winter harvest, revealed the annual study FarmTrak Trigo, by Kynetec consultancy, which AgroPages had first-hand access to. Among insecticides, he concludes, the biggest movement was for 'aphids', around 60% or BRL 134.4 million. (1 BRL = 0.20 U.S. dollars).

The revenue recorded last season represented an increase of 60% compared to the BRL 1.5 billion in the previous cycle, in 2021.

According to Kynetec, the conflict in Eastern Europe, as well as weather problems in Argentina and the favorable exchange rate for exports from Brazil boosted the wheat harvest, which demanded more inputs.

According to FarmTrak, wheat is already the fifth largest crop in pesticide transactions in Brazil, behind only soy, sugarcane, corn, and cotton.

″Wheat exports are at historic levels, reinforcing the need for more productivity″, justifies Gabriel Pedroso, market intelligence analyst at the consultancy.

According to Pedroso, the cultivated area of the cereal has advanced again and occupied 2.7 million hectares in the last harvest.

Kynetec, says the executive, found an average growth of 9% in planted areas in the last five years. The main producing states, Rio Grande do Sul and Paraná, have 91% of the area covered in the study: 1.4 million hectares and 1.1 million hectares.

Regarding exports, the survey points out that shipments of the winter cereal totaled 2.5 million tons, despite domestic consumption in the range of 12.3 million tons, or 2.8 million tons above the record production of 9 .5 million tons, projected by Conab in the 2022 cycle.

According to Kynetec, herbicides led the sale of agrochemicals in wheat, with R$ 1.2 billion in sales and 47% of the total, a growth of 103% compared to the 2021 harvest.

Foliar fungicides appear in the second position: BRL 743 million or 30% of the total, up 47%. Foliar insecticides and inputs for seed treatment maintained participation: each segment accumulated 10% of sales, BRL 224 million and BRL 177 million.

″In addition to the increase in input prices observed in the herbicide segment, some technological management also pushed this category upwards, such as more representative rates of use of products for crop desiccation, graminicides in planting desiccation, and pre-emergence applications″, emphasizes Gabriel Pedroso. According to him, these products totaled BRL 540 million.

Pedroso adds that in the fungicides category, the control of wheat rust remains the main target, equivalent to BRL 378 million.

The executive recalls that there was also a 6% increase in the adoption of products to manage powdery mildew, to BRL 101 million.

Inputs for leaf spots and ear diseases raised BRL 222 million and BRL 35 million.

″In general, the main target of agrochemical applications on wheat is ryegrass, which consumes 18% of the value disbursed by the producer or BRL 450 million″, stresses Pedroso.

(Editing by Leonardo Gottems, reporter for AgroPages)