Brazil’s diquat imports in early 2022 hit historical high, market price remains high

To this end, this article focuses on the sales and price changes of Brazil’s imported diquat, as well as the sales and price trends of prime supplier Syngenta and mainstream formulations. 

Brazil’s demand for diquat has been relatively stable over recent years, achieving a yearly market volume of over 1,000 tons of diquat ion, which is largely dominated by Syngenta. With the prohibition of paraquat in Brazil from 22nd September, 2020, diquat has become a major alternative for dehydration and is rapidly. It is also being increasingly being imported by Brazil, from 3,475 tons of diquat ion in 2019 to 4,940 tons in 2020, up 42% year-on-year. In addition, Brazil’s importation of diquat ion in 2021 further increased to 9,843 tons, up 550% over market demand during the past decade.

Looking at the first two months of 2022, Brazil’s importation of diquat ion (converted) reached a value of 2,705 tons, the highest level ever in history and up 28% over 2021. The demand for paraquat in the Brazilian market in previous years was between 8,500 and 10,000 tons of diquat ion as converted. Brazil’s import of paraquat reached 13,000 tons of diquat ion as converted. From an import volume perspective only, the import volume of diquat in 2021 was very close to the import volume of paraquat in previous years. Considering Brazil’s importation of 10,800 tons of glufosinate in 2021, a 200% growth, data show that the gaps of paraquat for dehydration and weed control are partially filled up.