Crop nutrition market in Brazil: a growing business

Brazil stands out as one of the largest producers and exporters of grains in the world. In the next year, it is expected to become the world's largest exporter, surpassing the United States.

Even so, Brazil ranks only 5th in terms of arable land (66 million hectares), behind India (179.8 million hectares), the United States (167.8 million hectares), China (165.2 million hectares) and Russia (155.8 million hectares). This area represents only 7.6% of the territory of the country, very low percentage when compared with the European Union that uses between 45% and 65%; United States, 18.3%; China, 17.7%; and India, 60.5%. On the other hand, Brazil has the highest area expansion potential in the world, with more than 190 million hectares. 
 

The use of fertilizers is of fundamental importance for this yield increase, also due to the fact that most of Brazilian soils have acidic pH, which inhibits the absorption of nutrients from the soil by plants. Hence also the importance of the use of acidic correctives such as limestone that increase soil pH and, in addition to providing plant nutrients such as Ca and Mg. 

Brazil imports 75% of the fertilizer consumption and is the 4th largest fertilizer consumer behind China, India and the United States. In 2017, fertilizer consumption was 34.439 million tons, up 1% from the previous year, with an average annual growth of 4%, compared to 2% of the global average.

As in the pesticide market, the fertilizer market (NPK) is highly concentrated, where four companies hold 80% of the market.