South America Agrochemicals Market Size & Share Analysis - Growth Trends & Forecasts (2025 - 2030)

South America Agrochemicals Market Trends and Insights

GM-crop driven pesticide demand surge

Argentina cleared five new genetically engineered crops in 2024, streamlining approvals to six-month cycles and reinforcing its status as the world’s third-largest GM grower with 25 million hectares ^{[1]USDA Foreign Agricultural Service, “Argentina Agricultural Biotechnology Annual 2024,” usda.gov} . Brazil’s Intacta2 Xtend trait already spans 30% of national soybean acreage and stimulates demand for herbicide stacks that combine glyphosate, dicamba, and glufosinate. HB4 drought-tolerant wheat commercialized in Argentina is boosting complementary crop-protection formulations tailored for novel herbicide-tolerance packages^{[2]Genetic Literacy Project, “HB4 Drought-Tolerant Wheat Commercialization,” geneticliteracyproject.org}. Region-wide, biotech expansion pushes agrochemical suppliers to design rotation programs, mitigating resistance while maximizing yield gains. The resulting product bundles strengthen input loyalty, enlarge lifetime value per hectare, and reinforce the premium tier of the South America agrochemicals market.

Precision-ag platforms optimizing chemical rates

Brazil hosts 875 deep-tech firms with agricultural solutions, including AI robotics, microbiology, and remote sensing. Solinftec’s solar-powered SOLIX robot autonomously scouts fields to identify weeds and recommends surgical spraying, cutting herbicide volumes while preserving yields. Syngenta’s CROPWISE AI platform already maps 70 million ha, centralizing nutrient, pest, and weather data for prescriptive field plans. Hyperspectral sensors now predict nitrogen and potassium levels in real-time, allowing variable-rate fertilizer and stabilizer placement that curbs runoff. Adoption cost hurdles persist, yet mounting labor shortages and input price spikes push growers toward tech-enabled efficiency. These tools tighten the feedback loop between crop status and input need, sustaining the consumption of premium-grade adjuvants, micronutrients, and bio-stimulants within the South America agrochemicals market.

Expansion of soybean and corn acreage

Roughly 70 million acres of degraded Brazilian pastureland are slated for conversion, equivalent to a potential 35% cropland increase. Argentina anticipates a 7% soybean area jump to 44 million acres in the 2024-25 cycle, its strongest rise in eight years. Double-cropping systems intensify pesticide and fertilizer use by extending the spray calendar. Meanwhile, the federal logistics plan that targets a 91% rail network expansion by 2035 aims to cut inland freight costs by up to 30%, enhancing the viability of remote acreage. These structural shifts widen the installed base for input suppliers and bolster volume visibility for the South America agrochemicals market.

Biological crop-protection blends adoption

Brazil’s biological input industry plays a prominent role in the Brazil agricultural market. Soybean biocontrols already hold a 55% share of national biocontrol value, fueled by proven cost-of-use parity with chemicals and regulatory fast lanes created under the National Bio-inputs Program. Over half of Brazilian growers now apply at least one bio-solution, compared with about 10% of U.S. farmers. As biologicals integrate with adjuvants and low-salt fertilizers, product lines converge to unlock new revenue streams in the South America agrochemicals market.

Tighter re-registration and residue limits

Chile imposed stricter maximum residue limits through Decree 47/2024, effective May 2025, raising compliance costs for formulators and exporters. Brazil’s updated pesticide law accelerates approvals yet heightens environmental oversight, challenging small registrants. Peru continues to authorize chemistries banned in Europe, fracturing regulatory alignment across Andean trade routes. Wider fungicide resistance in Brazilian soybean pathotypes also presses authorities to revise mode-of-action rotation mandates. Together, these measures lift data-generation expenses, extend market-entry timelines, and may delay newer activities, weighing on the South America agrochemicals market during the transition period.

Commodity-price volatility curbing spend

Corn quotations in Brazil’s Rondonópolis hub surged 85% year on year in early 2025, risking a 22% uptick in food inflation and constraining producer liquidity. Soybean production costs have reached USD 782/hectare, outstripping U.S. and Argentine benchmarks as fertilizer and pesticide prices stay high. The federal suspension of new subsidized loans under the 2024/25 Crop Plan deprives farmers of nearly BRL 50 billion in low-interest credit. Weaker local currency inflates dollar-denominated inputs but simultaneously props up export earnings, forcing growers to rebalance spending and sometimes defer non-essential chemical purchases. Such budget stress could temporarily slow unit turnover in the South America agrochemicals market until currencies, credit lines, and crop prices stabilize.

Segment Analysis

By Product Type: Fertilizers Maintain Scale as Biologicals Rise

Fertilizers secured a 42% share of the South America agrochemicals market in 2024, underpinned by nutrient-poor tropical soils and a strategic push to lift oilseed yields, especially in Brazil, where growers spend USD 335/hectare on fertilizer inputs. Pesticides remain the second-largest category, driven by persistent weed and pest pressure in humid climates and by widening herbicide-tolerance stacks in GM crops. 

Adjuvants exhibit the fastest trajectory at a 6.0% CAGR through 2030, benefiting from digital spray maps that reward droplet-size optimization and drift reduction. Product innovation now revolves around integrated packages. ICL’s launch of nitrogen-fixing inoculants after acquiring Nitro 1000 and Orion’s dual-line FA 1500 applicator, able to deliver chemical and biological inputs concurrently, illustrates the convergence trend. 

Note: Segment shares of all individual segments available upon report purchase

By Application: Oilseeds Supremacy Meets Horticulture Upswing

Pulses and oilseeds controlled 32% of 2024 demand, reflecting South America’s position as a supplier of roughly 55% of global soybeans, with Brazil and Argentina being major producers that season. High-volume acreage, stacked traits, and prolonged spray calendars solidify this application as the revenue anchor for the South America agrochemicals market. Grains and cereals follow, buoyed by rising second-crop corn and wheat, supported by improved logistics and genetic yield gains.

Fruits and vegetables advance at a 4.5% CAGR, the quickest among all uses, as Chile and Peru scale export-oriented horticulture backed by AI-guided irrigation and residue-safe products. Coffee, cocoa, quinoa, and avocado add to the portfolio, expanding the South America agrochemicals market size for high-value crop inputs.

Note: Segment shares of all individual segments available upon report purchase

Geography Analysis

Brazil commands 63.0% of the South America agrochemicals market, energized by 167.3 million metric tons of soybeans and 120.6 million metric tons of corn projected for 2025, respective gains of 15.4% and 5.1%. The country’s biological input segment, at BRL 5 billion in 2024, is outpacing the global curve and is now backed by a detailed Bio-inputs Law aimed at harmonizing quality, traceability, and trade. New capacity commitments, such as Syngenta’s technology center in São Paulo, reinforce Brazil’s innovation pull for global suppliers.

Argentina remains the second-largest market thanks to policy reforms that cut export taxes on soybeans and corn in January 2025. Five fresh GM approvals and the world’s first commercial HB4 wheat underline its biotech prowess. Sumitomo Chemical’s registration of Rapidicil herbicide and FMC’s expanded biological distribution network further underscore foreign investment confidence. Faster six-month registration windows create a regulatory advantage for launch sequencing, sustaining momentum in the South America agrochemicals market.

The Rest of South America records the fastest growth at 6.2% CAGR through 2030. Andean countries together hold GDP above USD 1 trillion and channel 7.6% from agriculture, forestry, and fisheries. Chile hosts 1,449 pesticide registrations but is pivoting toward water-efficient fertigation and residue-light chemistries to bolster fruit exports. Peru’s fertile valleys expand blueberry and avocado estates, though divergent pesticide policies versus Europe complicate harmonization. Colombia accelerates biological uptake through international know-how transfer, while Paraguay leverages low-cost land and tax incentives to draw capital. These dynamics broaden product-mix variety and de-risk over-reliance on Brazil within the South America agrochemicals market.