AgroPages-Brazil agrochemical market to rise 8%-Agricultural news

The Brazilian agrochemical market is to rise by another 8-10% this year, according to the Brazilian agrochemical industry trade union, the Sindag. The rise is to follow the expected jump in sales for 2007 by a quarter.

The 2008 prediction assumes flat international commodity prices, record crop production in Brazil and the same infrastructure problems that occurred in 2004, when the country enjoyed a bumper harvest, the Sindag president, Laercio Giampini, is quoted as saying in the business newspaper, Gazeta Mercantil. Prices of pesticides, with the exception of the herbicide, glyphosate, fell in 2007. The Sindag does not expect that trend to continue in 2008, citing that the price of glyphosate has risen by 40% for farmers in the centre-west region. Raw material prices are rising as they are petroleum-derived, it explains. Crude oil prices rose by two-thirds in 2007.

The union also predicts heavy pest pressure on soybeans and maize. Fungicides should remain in demand. Despite the late initial incidence of Brazil's major disease, Asian soybean rust (Phakopsora pachyrhizi), last season, fungicide sales rose most sharply (+32%). The number of applications against the disease continues to rise, the Sindag explains. The first appearance of rust this season was detected in December.

Pesticide sales in 2007 are expected to have hit a record. Sales of agrochemicals in the country reached R$7,700 million ($3,900 million) for the first ten months of last year, a rise of 26.5%, the union says. Farmers' increased investment in technology was the principal driver, it adds. Other factors included high commodity prices, increased crop areas and lower pesticide prices. Herbicides sales for the first ten months accounted for 43% of the total at R$3,340 million, while insecticides amounted to R$2,340 million (31%) and fungicides R$1,700 million (22%).