By: Pixabay
Fertilizers and their intermediaries, with US$ 6.7 billion, and agricultural pesticides, totaling US$ 9.2 billion, represent up to April this year no less than 40.2% of the value of the import list of chemical products in Brazil, points out the Abiquim (Brazilian Chemical Industry Association). The two classes also drove inflation in the sector.
According to the entity's report, there were price increases of 133.8% in fertilizers – from US$ 243/ton to US$ 568/t. In agrochemicals, inflation was 25.3%, going from an average cost of US$ 7,200/ton to US$ 9,023/t.
According to Abiquim, this resumption of imports of products for agribusiness boosted the trade deficit to an unprecedented value of US$ 17.3 billion by April this year. The result represents an increase of 53.5% compared to the result of the same period in 2021.
In the first four months of 2022, [total] imports of chemical products moved 17.1 million tons, meaning a small decrease of 0.5% compared to the same months last year. It is important to remember that the basis for comparison was a record result in the entire historical series of the chemical trade balance.
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The report points out that foreign purchases remain strong “despite the serious global economic impacts of the war in Ukraine – especially related to supply difficulties, which led countries to even restrict their exports, and with unprecedented levels of international prices for several commodities – and of the increasing logistical problems with the recent worsening of the health issue of the pandemic, especially in China, which has led to temporary interruptions in port movement in critical hubs in the global movement of containers and long-haul ships”.
In exports from January to April, adds Abiquim, there was a decrease of 4.9% in the quantities sold to Brazilian trading partners (from 5.4 million tons to 5 million tons), a result that was not worse due to increases in physical shipments of organic products (7.2%) and resins and elastomers (25.5%).
For the Executive President of Abiquim, Ciro Marino, only through a long-term State Policy that addresses the structural challenges of competitiveness, with a focus on improving the business environment, fair and fair trade, possible only with a strengthened, technical, pragmatic, cohesive and impartial trade defense system will enable the country to achieve sustainable economic reactivation and attract productive investments.
“Predictability and legal certainty are non-negotiable values, as well as reciprocity and respect for the fundamental rules of Mercosur and the WTO. In a turbulent and disruptive global economic scenario, particularly aggravated by the prolongation of the damaging effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and Russia's war against Ukraine, any unilateral process of reviewing the Mercosur Common External Tariff (TEC), without any prior dialogue with the productive sectors or pointing out the economic and regulatory impacts of this deliberation, it would be devastating for income, employment and industry”, warns Ciro Marino.
Per: AGROLINK
