Market insights on Colombian and Paraguayan agriculture

Date:09-19-2016

The agchem industry in Colombia earned US $378 million in revenue in 2016, of which 38% corresponds to herbicides, 29% to fungicides, 28% to insecticides, 3% to foliar fertilizers, and 2% to adjuvants. In 2015, the top five agchem corporations in terms of sales were Dow, Syngenta, FMC, Adama, and Invesa.  

One of the main difficulties faced by the agchem industry in Colombia is the practice of making long-term payments (extending between 120 and 150 days). Another difficulty is the complex regulation of the agchem industry and the lack of coordination between the agricultural, environmental, and health authorities.

The following table shows the main crops (by area) and corresponding pests/diseases/weeds in the Colombian market:


Paraguay is a young country, and its economy is greatly dependent on its agriculture production, indicating the importance of the sector. The export value of products originating in Paraguay constitute some 25% of the country's GDP, and 80% of these products are agricultural commodities (soy, meat, corn, rice, etc.) and agro-industrial processed products. Therefore, revenue from commercial agriculture operations for production and export constitutes 20% of Paraguay's GDP.

However, official government institutions have not yet come up with a plan for the sector's development and no credit facilities have been extended to finance farmers and other agribusiness-related activities.

So far, the importers and/or retailers have played this role. Under the current economic crisis, many retailers have gone bankrupt and import companies have closed their doors.

The Paraguayan company Agro Quimica del Paraguay S. A. notes,“If the agricultural situation improves, as the domestic industry is currently showing signs of weakness, we believe in two or three years, conditions will stabilize, but the market will still be vulnerable due to the lack of strong governance or commitment to this important sector.”

The following table shows the main crops (by area) and corresponding pests/diseases/weeds in the Paraguayan market: