President of Bayer Latin America worries about the credit situation in Brazil

The president of Bayer CropSciene for Latin America, Eduardo Estrada, expressed his concern about the lack of cash available in Brazil for farmers. “We have to deal with the impact of currency devaluation”, added the executive highlighting that his company works with high technology, which requires investments in U.S. Dollars.

"The farmer was affected by the climate, which was not so favorable earlier in the year because the harvest was delayed. There was a fall of revenue because of the larger control and exchange transfer, but what worries the most is the credit situation, particularly in the Center and North of Brazil and we will have to have a lot of help from banks and the government for agriculture,” alerted Estrada.

The executive affirmed that the new facilities recently inaugurated in Paulínia, state of São Paulo, mean investments of R$ 31 million. The idea of Bayer CropScience is to work with 150 molecules developed annually for new agrochemicals.

The global CEO of Bayer CropScience, Liam Condon, also commented on the current crisis: “In general, everybody figures out that they have friends in tough times. You do not leave on tough times, those are times of opportunity and we believe in the future growth of Brazil; it is a matter of when”.

He yet affirmed that the companies will not make additional acquisition moves with other companies in the sector. But he admits that, “if there is an available option that is compatible with our strategy, we can be buyers and sellers”. According to him, his company “always prefer buying rather than selling”, and the interest areas are seeds and biotechnology. “We are here for over 150 years and want to stay 150 years more,” concluded.