The use of broad spectrum fungicides in Brazilian soybeans increased by 218%(2022-2023)

The use of broad spectrum contact protective fungicides in soybean production in Brazil during the 2022-2023 planting season increased by 218 percent compared to the previous season, with its use rising significantly from R $1.2 billion to R $3.8 billion

Market analysts believe that the increase in usage is due to the increasing focus of producers on combating major soybean diseases such as Asian rust. The use of broad-spectrum fungicides in the 2022-2023 season is close to 80% of the total planted area of soybeans, compared to only 5% in the 2014-2015 season and 44% in the 2018-2019 season.

In terms of total fungicides, sales for the 2022-2023 quarter slipped to second place at R $18.9 billion, accounting for 33 percent of the total Brazilian oilseed fungicide market of about R $57 billion, Kynetec said. This is the first time that herbicides have led sales, reaching R $20 billion, or 36% of total sales. The better performance of herbicides is mainly due to price increases and recent supply constraints for several products, but the company forecasts that this change is unlikely to continue, and expects fungicides to regain the lead and herbicide prices to return to their previous normal. According to historical data from Kynetec, herbicides used to account for about 22% of the total soybean pesticide market in Brazil, and foliar fungicides accounted for about 40%.

It highlights two reasons for the significant growth of foliar fungicides, particularly broad-spectrum ones. First, growers have significantly increased their use of these products as part of their strategy to control Asian rust disease, and have adopted rotation to prevent pathogens from developing resistance. In addition, factory-formulated premixed products also affected the sales growth of broad-spectrum fungicides, which accounted for 40% of broad-spectrum fungicides in the 2022-2023 quarter, at R $1.52 billion.

In addition, the FarmTrak 2022-2023 soybean Survey found that producers will pay more attention to other minor soybean diseases such as target spot, powdery mildew and soybean deformity in the coming seasons.