Brazil’s cotton caterpillar insecticide market grows over 41%

The cotton caterpillar insecticide market grew by more than 41% in the 2023-2024 season to US$160 million, up from $114 million in the previous cycle. 

According to Kynetec's recent FarmTrak Cotton study, the potential area treated (PAT) by these products jumped from 7.773 million hectares to 11.716 million hectares, a 51% increase.

According to the research, baculoviruses treated 651,000 hectares of cotton in the 2023-2024 season, compared to 227,000 hectares in the 2022-2023 cycle (+187%). During the same period, the bioinsecticide Cartugen expanded from 157,000 to 595,000 hectares, achieving 91% market share and maintaining its lead in the virus segment, up from the previous 69%.

The survey also positioned AgBiTech Brasil as the market leader in baculovirus-based insecticides for lepidopteran control. According to the FarmTrak survey, this represents more than a doubling in market share for the Australian-American company, from 2% to 5%, when considering the combined ranking of chemical and biological insecticides.

The Kynetec study revealed that AgBiTech expanded its leading position in biocaterpillicides (biological insecticides for caterpillars with different active ingredients), increasing from 38% in 2022-2023 to 60%.

AgBiTech CEO Adriano Vilas Boas celebrated the survey results. "Cotton was the first crop that AgBiTech invested significantly in when it arrived in Brazil. Today we have achieved a reference position in the market, resulting from extensive research and development work carried out continuously, with support from consultants, researchers, and academics linked to renowned companies and institutions."

According to Boas, since entering the market, the company has enjoyed "great acceptance" among Brazilian cotton farmers. "For us, it is important to contribute to sustainable and effective management of this crucial crop in the agribusiness chain."

AgBiTech's Marketing Director, Pedro Marcellino, emphasized that the company's main product, Cartugen^® biocaterpillicide, becoming the most used biological in cotton, represents a historic achievement in the company's successful trajectory.

"Not long ago, the 'big leaders' in sales were chemical insecticides. Today, we have a high-performance, highly efficient biological product among the most commercialized inputs. When we analyze market growth by active ingredients, baculoviruses have surpassed reference actives: chlorfenapyr, methomyl, spinetoram, and others," Marcellino continued.

In the 2023-2024 season, according to Kynetec, cotton planting grew 18% in the country, from 1.6 million hectares to 1.9 million hectares. For Marcellino, research data shows that caterpillar pressure intensifies season after season, driving the market for these pest products. "Cotton caterpillar management has always been one of the producer's priorities, as it's a high-investment crop that requires constant attention and tends to demand increasingly more technology," Marcellino observed.

"Being close to the crops, to the challenges faced by producers, bringing more technical management knowledge and economically and sustainably viable high-technology products, summarizes AgBiTech's purpose," he emphasized.

Corn and Soybeans

According to Kynetec data, AgBiTech also leads the country's biocaterpillicide market for corn and soybeans. In the latest corn second crop (2024), for example, with the caterpillicide-treated area increasing by 38% to 22.5 million hectares, the company recorded a 71% market share.

Marcellino added that robust indicators about increased caterpillar pressure, brought by Kynetec about the last season, "are not news." 

"In some way, this was already expected. Lepidopteran attacks today constitute a systemic problem in the main agricultural crops, information that had already been signaled in recent soybean and corn research," he said in conclusion.

(Editing by Leonardo Gottems, reporter for AgroPages)