Brazil imported US$ 4.23 billion of agrochemicals in the last 12 months

Brazil has imported US$ 4.233 billion of agrochemicals in the last 12 months, according to a report from the Brazilian Association of the Chemical Industry. Between the months of March/2015 and February/2016, US$ 3.037 billion of formulated products were purchased and US$ 1.196 billion of active ingredients were purchased (FOB).

In quantity, the imports summed 289,000 tons in formulated products and 208,000 tons in active principles in the same period. The information is at the 2016 February report of the entity, which uses as a database of the Alice system of the Ministry of Development, Industry and Foreign Trade.

In the first two months of 2016 alone, the imports reached US$ 219.4 million in formulated products and US$ 134.6 million in active ingredients (FOB). The amounts totaled 35,154 tons in formulated products and 30,111 tons in active ingredients between January and February of this year.

In this survey, the active ingredients (technical products) include only the classified specific positions at the Mercosur Common Nomenclature. On the other hand, the formulated products cover other non-agricultural agrochemicals classified under heading 3808 of the MCN.

The director of the Foreign Trade Issues of the Association, Denise Naranjo, admits that there was a slowdown in imports of chemical products. According to her, this is “one of the signal that 2015 was a delicate year for the country, particularly for the Brazilian chemical industry. The reduction of the purchases is aligned with the fall of economic activity and, unfortunately, this did not translate into more domestic competitiveness for the sector. The perspectives are a scenario of continuous uncertainty through the trajectory of the year, which takes even more urgent the illegal and unfair practices of trade, acts that generate irreversible damages and can cost the survival of several industrial units.”