Expansion in the area of pesticides

Francisco Verza, Vice-President of crop protection unit of Basf in Brazil: the "barter" is in consolidation.
The German multinational Basf, one of the largest companies in the segment of agrochemicals in the country, is optimistic about the growth of its operations of "barter" with farmers in the country. The expectation is that this trading mode answer by 30% and 35% among of its sales with sales of pesticides this year.
"This percentage was just below 30% in recent years, but the ' barter ' comes in the consolidation process," said Francisco value Verza, Vice-President of crop protection unit of Basf in Brazil.
As the Executive, the current scenario of variations in exchange rates and commodity prices, along with a tighter credit and higher interest rates, reinforces the insecurity in the sector. On the other hand, increases the importance of the "barter", since the operation helps to "isolate" the negative effects of those factors. "And we keep extending the possibility of ' barter ' for other products such as coffee, sugar, cotton and ethanol, always with the intermediation of a trading," he said.
Verza explains that these operations tend to follow concentrated in areas of Cerrado, in States in the Midwest and also in Matopiba (region of confluence between Maranhão, Tocantins, Piauí and Bahia)-the latter even with many new areas of planting, where profitability is most at risk. In 2007/08, the "barter" represented 13% of the total sales of pesticides in the country; in 2013/14, the share dropped to 4%.