Argentine agchem trade 06/07

Argentine exports of pesticides reached $102.4 million in the first half of 2007, while the country imported some $373.8 million of agrochemicals. The figures include adjuvants and some intermediates. They come from a survey by the Argentine national animal and plant health inspection service, the Senasa. The study shows that the country exported 40,374 tonnes of pesticides for the period and that its volume imports reached 92,800 tonnes. Argentina's imports were 58.8% more expensive per kg of ai than its exports, according to the study.

 

major ais

The country's main export in the first half of 2007 was, by a comfortable margin, the herbicide, glyphosate. The 29,800 tonnes accounted for $65.2 million, or almost two-thirds of the value of exports. The herbicide was also the country's major imported pesticide, and at 14,700 tonnes, accounted for $54.4 million or 14.6% of the value of imports. Argentina also imported $108.4 million of the glyphosate intermediate, PMIDA.

 

The next major export ais were: the insecticide, chlorpyrifos, which accounted for $3.4 million of the market; the insecticide, cypermethrin ($2.5 million); the acaricide, spirodiclofen ($2.4 million); the insecticide, methoxyfenozide ($1.9 million); and the fungicide, trifloxystrobin + cyproconazole ($1.3 million). Other major exported pesticides included: the herbicide, flumetsulam, sales of which reached $865,659, the herbicide, haloxyfop-R ($906,341), and the insecticide, imidacloprid ($731,128).

 

The main destinations for Argentine exports were Brazil, Uruguay, Paraguay, Chile and Bolivia.

 

The key imports other than glyphosate into Argentina in the first half of last year were: the fungicides, trifloxystrobin ($7.9 million), azoxystrobin + cyproconazole ($5.6 million), and pyraclostrobin + epoxiconazole ($5.5 million); the herbicides, acetochlor ($8.3 million), S-metalochlor ($7.8 million), and dicamba ($6.7 million); and the insecticides, clothianidin ($16.0 million), chlorpyrifos ($8.2 million), and imidacloprid ($4.5 million).

 

The major sources of Argentine imports were China, Japan, India, Israel, Germany, The US and Brazil.

 

2006

The country exported $203.1 million worth of pesticides and adjuvants in 2006 and 62,000 tonnes in volume terms. It imported $632.6 million, accounting for some 177,700 tonnes. Argentine imports were only 8.6% more expensive than its exports in 2006, according to the Senasa study.

 

Exports of the most traded active ingredient, glyphosate, reached $99.4 million in 2006, while imports of the herbicide totalled $121.4 million. The other major exported ais were: the herbicide, 2,4-D ($15.1 million) and cypermethrin ($7.5 million). Among imports, the outstanding ais were $21.4 million worth of chlorpyrifos, imidacloprid ($14.8 million), acetochlor ($13.8 million) and S-metolachlor ($11.8 million).