Sales of pesticides increase in Brazil

Friday, July 29, 2011

 sprayingBy Vivian Fernandes

The global market for pesticide sales could have a new leader within the year. At the current moment the Brazilian economy – with a rise in commodity prices and the valuation of the real against the dollar – should put Brazil in first place for collection of tax revenues on sales of agricultural poisons, surpassing the United States. Their growth is estimated at 10% in the Brazilian market, with sales above US$8 billion, approximately R$ 12.4 billion.

In the last year the United States shifted US$ 7.8 billion – in the region of R$12.1 billion – in sales of agricultural toxins. The Brazilian market registered US$ 7.3 billion – approximately R$ 11.3 billion. According to a study performed by the German consultancy Kleffmann, the consumption of pesticides by US producers had fallen by 6% between 2004 and 2009. In Brazil the increase was 1.5% in the same period. The crops in which the sales of pesticides in Brazil were most concentrated were soya with 44%, followed by cotton with 11%.

Brazil is in third place globally in export of agricultural products, behind the United States and the European Union. The cultivated area of the United States is 50% larger than that of Brazil, and produces three and half times as much grain. 

Brazil is the principal destination of pesticides forbidden in other countries. According to data from the United Nations, at least ten varieties sold freely to farmers in Brazil do not circulate in the European Union and United States.

translated by Philip Roberts