Industry Insights: Kynetec’s An Segers on a Data-Driven Approach to Navigating the Complexities of the 2024 Crop Protection Market
18 October 2023 With a fervent commitment to empowering their clients with essential insights and data, Kynetec has established itself as a global force renowned for delivering unmatched data sets, cutting-edge analytics, forward-looking predictions, and invaluable insights. Their approach extends beyond mere data collection, as they harness predictive analytics and tap into extensive resources and benchmarks to provide clients with a comprehensive and distinct comprehension of their markets.
AgriBusiness Global recently met with Kynetec’s An Segers, Executive Director, Global Account Management, to discuss foresights into the 2024 market. An has more than 15 years of experience in marketing research in general, and over 12 years of experience in market research specializing in the agricultural and horticultural sectors. She has profound expertise in managing global teams, projects and clients, both for qualitative and quantitative research methodologies.
In her current role, An, together with her global team of senior client service staff, is responsible for account management for international clients in crop protection, seeds, machinery, fertilizers, and other adjacent markets. She has an additional interest in tracking research and sustainability topics.
Having trouble viewing this video? Please click here.
ABG: How do you think the current oversupply of ag chemicals will affect the 2024 market?
An Segers, Kynetec
An Segers: Shortages and demand in 2022, declining prices in China, and increasing interest rates have resulted in high inventories this year. And this will further impact the next season as well.
Therefore, we expect the channel to run inventory on a lower level – lower selling in from industry to channel, but status quo with regards to selling out to farmers. Overall, we expect our data to show a rather flat movement in use of product as a result.
With the channel changing their behavior, the industry will have to make the right decisions to optimize their inventory management. For example, we expect the channel to move their buying decisions to later stages, as they expect prices to come down even further. This will create challenges for the industry in 2024, as they will be pushed to sell their high-priced inventory at lower price points.
Channel inventory is anticipated to remain a focus across all regions for the rest of this year and for 2024. Of course, some regions will be affected more than others. North America has experienced two quarters of very strong demand already, and purchase patterns are expected to return to normal. On the other hand, Asia and LATAM face inventory levels that may impact product volumes moving forward.
ABG: What five crop protection chemicals do you think will be a problem (in terms of oversupply or undersupply) for 2024?
AS: We are collecting the information in season, and therefore do not yet have a view on this based on our core subscription products. We believe that herbicides could be in oversupply with prices for technical compounds being low. And the actives to keep an eye on will be glyphosate, glufosinate, mancozeb, imidacloprid, thiamethoxam, and propiconazole.
We are currently preparing for a market study to equip clients with data that will help them make the right decisions in inventory management. The main purpose of this study is to capture overall trend and intentions regarding inventory topics to answer specific questions from the perspective of both the channel and the farmers…understanding what they are doing currently, and what they plan to do in the next season.
ABG: Kynetec recently launched BioLogika, an online dashboard focusing on the biopesticide market. Is it able to forecast which biologicals are being used the most? Like top 10? If so, what are the top 10 for 2023?
AS: Yes, we launched BioLogika in July-August this year, as biologicals are becoming an important tool for farmers to farm sustainably. This is a strategic dashboard to understand biopesticide trends within the crop protection market to answer answer questions like what the market size is and how it is evolving, what grower profiles are using biopesticides, what does the grower share of wallet look like for conventional versus biopesticides, and how is that evolving over time, what is the market potential, and how to make realistic plans when launching a new biopesticide product.
Right now, our BioLogika product is focusing on biopesticides. The information is captured from our farmer panels worldwide, as part of our crop protection data collection. The data in BioLogika are for 2012-2022. Clearly, once the season is over, we will update the dashboard with 2023 data as well, and so on in the coming years.
ABG: What do you see as the most exciting developments in agriculture today, and how can your products help with these developments?
AS: We have already touched on many of these topics today; ag tech, regenerative agriculture, and biologicals are the most exciting developments in agriculture today. We are working alongside our clients to be their valued partner, and to develop products that help them make the right decisions with confidence. In addition, we have customer insights teams with years of industry experience and expertise, that work on projects to address specific business challenges for our clients.
Get The Newsletter Today!
