The Brazilian sugarcane nematocide market has increased by nearly 50% in five years, and biopesticides are the main driving force

The market for nematocides for sugarcane in Brazil has grown by nearly 50% over the past five years, with biological nematocides playing a prominent role in this growth.

A survey by Kynetec Brazil puts the overall revenue of pesticides at 9.2 billion reais by 2023. Sugar cane is the third most important crop in the agrochemical industry. The results show that this represents a 7% increase in sales compared to R $8.6 billion in 2022. Sugarcane is of great strategic importance to nematocide producers.

According to Kynetec Brazil's FarmTrak survey, sales of cane nematicides in the country reached R $403 million last year, up 47 percent from 2019 (R $273 million). The state of Sao Paulo contributed 59% of cane nematocide sales (R $235.8 million), followed by the Central and Western regions with 29% (R $118.4 million). According to Kynetec, 64% (R $257 million) of total nematocides sales in 2023 will be biological nematocides. Lucas Naves Montrasio, an expert at the consultancy, said that five years ago, transactions involving such products accounted for only 21% (R $58 million) of nematocides, and growers are constantly switching to biological nematocides.

The study also shows that Brazil maintains about 9 million hectares of sugarcane annually. More than 50% of this (4.926 million hectares) is in the state of Sao Paulo, followed by 23% (2.037 million hectares) in the Central and western regions.

Montrasio added that nematocides were used on 15 percent of the sugarcane planted in Brazil in 2023 (1.329 million hectares). He said the highest adoption rates were seen in the Midwest and Sao Paulo states: 21 per cent and 16 per cent of acreage, respectively; The soil characteristics of the central and western regions cause nematodes to be more severe in this area, so the application of nematocides in this area is more important.