How Certis Biologicals Changed the Way It Does Business After COVID-19 (Part Two)
2 May 2023
In part two of AgriBusiness Global Report, a 10-minute show interviewing executives and experts in the crop protection, biologicals, ag tech, and plant health sectors, hosted by AgriBusiness Global Senior Editor Jackie Pucci, the conversation continues with Tarang Srivistava, Head of International Business at Certis Biologicals. He shared some of the realities of doing business in the post-Covid era, what biopesticides growth is looking like in his home country of India, predictions for 2023, and more.
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ABG: How has Covid changed the way Certis Biologicals does business, shifting to the supply chain and logistics conversation. Are you more diversified in your sourcing?
Well, Covid changed multiple things. First of all, on the positive side, the home and garden business grew very rapidly in those years. Internally, instead of biologicals we call it the garden greenhouse business, and that business took off in a big way, and we see that growth has kind of sustained even when Covid has kind of mellowed down now.
On the supply chain and logistic side, yes, there were very significant challenges. What we have tried to do is first expand our supply chain and logistics team to be able to deal with the complexity of the situation. We have added more vendors. We have worked around packaging material issues. You know, those were things that we never really thought about in the past. And now we these are realities. A cotton box can impact your ability to supply a large order. Certis Biologicals has to become more agile to be able to meet those challenges. We have expanded our manufacturing capacity. We have taken these years to also move to a newer ERP.
I think we are in very good shape, post-Covid, with all the key learnings, all the time that we have taken to expand the manufacturing, expand our team, and also getting to a new erp system. So we will, I think, be a much more reliable and consistent supplier to our customers.
ABG: What are the lead times like with biologicals now compared to synthetics?
Well, fermentation does take time. So, there are lead times which are longer than conventional pesticides. However, I think especially for companies like Certis Biologicals, where we are able to deliver longer shelf life we are able to help our customers with inventory management. Therefore it somewhat offsets the longer lead time if we are able to work with them closely, with the some level of advance planning, and some level of inventory management.
ABG: What kinds of things is Certis Biologicals sort of looking for, when seeking out opportunities in different regions around the world for partnerships and such and in which markets? I know you mentioned the European Union being the most amenable, but are there other very attractive markets right now?
For us the entire globe is attractive. We operate in 50-plus markets, so there is a lot of opportunity out there that we have not yet tapped. The fresh produce exporting markets, as I said earlier, remain very important for us. So countries like Morocco, Turkey, South Africa, Chile, Peru, Brazil and in Asia, Pacific, Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, and New Zealand are extremely important markets for us. Japan is a very important market for us. We are also very focused on the highly regulated markets,
because we do have a complete data package for all of our products which allows us confident market access to even the most regulated markets. A lot of competition shies away from such markets, but we are very confident that we will be able to address any regulatory concerns that any regulator around the world might have and that makes us more confident to go into markets all over the world.
So, coming back to the important point you raised about other than European Union. We are very focused on growth in the Latam region. We cannot ignore Brazil anymore. It’s very, very big. Likewise, markets like Japan are very important, as well as Australia, New Zealand, South Africa.
ABG: Can you talk up a little bit about your home country, India? How has biological adoption evolved and what is the market like there?
Indian market is also evolving very fast. We have a product, Delfin in that market, and it has grown probably 4x in just one year. It’s a Bt and it’s delivering consistently high growth. I was there earlier in December, and I saw firsthand how farmers love it, especially against the very difficult to control diamondback moth pest in cabbage and cauliflower. So we are very happy with the support that we are able to provide to grow in India and hopefully, in the coming years we will be able to introduce more products. Mitsui, our parent company has a company in India called Bharat Certis. I serve on the board of that company, and it’s a rapidly growing, very robust company, and helping us deliver the growth that Delfin deserves in that market.
ABG: In closing, I was just wondering if you could just talk about what is your bird’s eye view of ‘23 and moving forward?
Well, I still feel 2023 will remain a challenging year with the high energy costs, the ongoing war in Ukraine, the global high inflation. All those things will have a certain impact in 2023, but I think, as I said, we are well prepared to remain a consistent supply to our customers, because we have taken these past 2, 3 years to expand manufacturing, and you know, develop our IT capabilities to be able to better serve our customers. We have invested a lot in teams, in the supply chain logistics, field development. So for us, 2023 is going to be a very, very busy year. From a regional standpoint we are investing in several regulatory projects which will help us enter markets that we were not in until now, or through label expansions, adding newer market segments for us. So, looking forward to a very busy year, and I hope for everybody else in the industry. Also, it’s a great year.
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