As
the AgroChemEx, one of China’s largest exhibitions for the agrochemicals market
is coming closer, market intelligence firm CCM is giving an overview of China’s
agrochemical industry to prepare exhibitors and visitors alike for the
discussions, negotiations and business talks ahead.
AgroChemEx
The
AgroChemEx (ACE) in China is a yearly exhibition around the agrochemical
industry, organized and carried out by the China Crop Protection Industry
Association (CCPIA). With a rising number of attendees and exhibitors, the
event gets more popular with industry players coming from countries like
Thailand, India, Iran, Turkey, Russia, the USA, Australia, and Germany, among
many others. After all, more than 600 exhibitors are expected to take part in
the exhibition in 2017, which includes 80% of China’s pesticides producers.
Exhibitors
are not only manufacturers in the pesticide formulations and technical industry, but also additives and intermediates producers, environmental
protection and packaging equipment enterprises, consultancy companies,
logistics service providers, and market analysis businesses.
The
time of the exhibition is 15-17 October 2017. It will be held at the Shanghai
World Expo Exhibition and Convention Center from 9:00-18:00 on all three days.
The organiser is the China Crop Protection Industry Association.
CCPIA
CCPIA
is one of the earliest professional industry associations in China, which was
founded back in April 1982. Up to now, the organization has become the most
renowned & authoritative agrochemical organization of China.
It
is a non-profit organization registered as an independent legal entity under
the Ministry of Civil Affairs in China. Furthermore, the association is one of
the earliest industrial associations that have obtained approval from the
former Ministry of Chemical Industry. Currently, the organization is supervised
by Ministry of Information and Technology and Ministry of Civil Affairs,
complying strictly with the law.
The
CCPIA has focused on building connections between government sectors and pesticide manufacturers as well as among these manufacturers and promoting
international cooperation. Currently, CCPIA has more than 600 corporate
members, which are constituted from manufacturers, universities and institutes
all around China, engaged in the R&D, or the production of pesticide TC and
intermediates including adjuvants or only operation of pesticide, formulations
and packaging, manufacturing of equipment. Together, they contribute over 85%
of the whole domestic industry in terms of production volumes.
China’s agrochemical
industry
With
over 60 years of steady development, China has become the worldwide biggest
production base of pesticides. China's pesticide output had kept an uptrend in
2010-2015, with a CAGR of 9.81%, reaching 3.74 million tonnes in 2015.
Meanwhile, its output value grew at a CAGR of about 12.8%, hitting USD42.8
billion in 2015.
However,
there are many problems in China's pesticide industry, such as overcapacity,
inefficient production technologies, capital shortage, few well-known brands,
and serious environmental pollution.
In
2016, China's total output of pesticide technical reached about 3.78 million
tonnes, up by 0.99% compared with that in 2015. Hence, the market remained
flat. Notably, in the years 2012 to 2016, it has been growing at an average
year-on-year growth rate of 1.57%. Of the whole pesticide industry, the output
of herbicides was accounted for 46.93% in 2016.
Chinese
pesticide producers have been facing increasing production costs in China,
which results from the increased environmental pressure by the government,
conducting regular inspections.
China's
import volume and value of pesticides decreased in 2016, reaching 84,000 tonnes
and USD673 million respectively; while its export volume and value increased to
1.40 million tonnes and USD3,716 million, up by 19.23% and 4.79% year on year
respectively.
China’s
most important province in terms of pesticide production is Jiangsu
Province, located north of Shanghai in the economically strong east region of
China. This province is responsible for about 40% of the total pesticide output
in China, producing 550,000 tonnes each year.
The
government is modernising the agricultural production by limiting and banning
the use of high-toxic pesticides to develop into an environmental friendly cultivation method. According to CCM, there are 39 pesticides that are
completely banned for the use in China and more are restricted to only be used
for dedicated crops. Notably, most of the banned pesticides in China are insecticides.
From
the future period of 2017 to 2022, 34 active ingredients in the agrochemical
market will come off their patent. Those 34 agrochemicals are divided into 15
herbicides, 7 insecticides, 11 fungicides, and one safener.
China’s
domestic market as well as the international pesticides market furthermore are
struggling with adversities, like sluggish demand, bans on an increasing number
of pesticides, and a significant oversupply.
Investments in R&D
The
number of new registrations can show market trends to some extent. 2,4-D,
dicamba, glufosinate-ammonium, mesotrione and flumioxazin are herbicides
registered the most in 2016; thiamethoxam and nitenpyram are insecticides with
the most registrations; and pyraclostrobin, boscalid, trifloxystrobin
and epoxiconazole were the most commonly registered fungicides in
2016.
It's
worth noting that the number of new registrations obtained by foreign
enterprises in 2016 was the same as that in 2015, while the number of new
registrations obtained by domestic enterprises decreased sharply in 2016.
What's more, among the 12 firstly registered pesticide technical, 8 were
registered by multinational corporations and four were by domestic ones, which
can be seen that foreign enterprises surpass domestic enterprises in the
R&D of pesticide technical.
According
to statistics from 86 pesticides with independent innovation from 1995 to
November 2016, totally 37 research units are involved in the research of
invention. Among these, in terms of the number of pesticides invented by
research unit, Shenyang Research Institute of Chemical Industry ranked the
first with 14 pesticides, followed by Zhejiang Research Institute of Chemical Industry
Co., Ltd. (seven pesticides), and Central China Normal University and Nankai
University (six pesticides respectively). While regarding the number of
pesticides invented by an enterprise, Qingdao King Agroot Resistant Weeds
Control Co., Ltd. took the first place with four pesticides, followed by
Jiangsu Yangnong Chemical Co., Ltd. with three pesticides.
Comparison
of numbers of registered novel pesticides in different units by property,
1995-2016
Source:
ICA, MOA, CCM
The
R&D development is a crucial factor for China to meet the strict quality
and safety requirements for food. It also supports a better reputation of
Chinese manufacturers to ensure the acceptance in export markets. Both, the
Chinese government as well as the domestic manufacturers are fully aware of the
importance of innovative pesticide development and have increased their
investment in the R&D segment significantly.
In
H1 2017, the total R&D investment of the 20 main listed pesticide
enterprises in China hit USD122.54 million, up by 33.26% year on year. Among
them, two recorded year-on-year drops in their R&D investment. And the top
three enterprises by R&D investment were Huapont Life Sciences Co., Ltd.,
Jiangsu Yangnong Chemical Co., Ltd. and Zhejiang Wynca Chemical Industrial Group
Co., Ltd.
R&D
Investments of 10 listed pesticide enterprises in China, H1 2017
Source:
CCM
China’s top pesticide
manufacturers
China's
pesticide production is mainly concentrated in East China including Jiangsu,
Shandong, Henan and Zhejiang provinces, in terms of both the number of
producers and tonnage, with the subtotal output contributing nearly 70% to the
national total pesticide output. Thereinto, Shandong and Jiangsu provinces are
the most important regions for China's pesticide production.
In
China, the total number of pesticide producers was estimated to be over 4,000
as of 2015. The total fund for new product research of the whole pesticide
industry in China is no more than USD0.07 billion annually, much less than that
of even a single multinational player, such as Bayer CropScience, whose annual
expenditure on innovation reaches about USD0.6 billion.
The
total combined pesticide revenue of 2017 China top 100 pesticide enterprises
reached USD16.55 billion in 2016, with a year-on-year decrease of 0.77%; while
the total pesticide formulation revenue of 2017 China top 30 pesticide
formulations enterprises was USD2.16 billion, down by 12.34% year on year.
The
CCPIA, the organiser of the ACE, has published a list of the top 100 pesticide
enterprises in China in terms of their pesticide revenue in 2016. As revealed
by the statistics in the 2017 list, there was a large polarisation in the
enterprises' pesticide revenues, caused by poor industry development, strict
environmental regulations, policies on paraquat and mergers & acquisitions
among enterprises. Thirty-nine enterprises achieved pesticide revenue of more
than USD150.60 million in 2016, one enterprise less than last year. Besides,
the total pesticide revenue of the top 10 enterprises reached USD4.82 billion
in 2016, up by 3.97% year on year. The threshold of entering the 2017 list fell
to USD46 million from USD51 million a year earlier, down by 11.20%.
The
first and second rank on the list of the top 100 pesticide
enterprises have both climbed 2 and 3 ranks, respectively, in
comparison to 2016. Those two companies are Nutrichem and Shandong Weifang
Rainbow. Nutrichem is also the only Chinese pesticide manufacturer with a
pesticide revenue of more than USD685 in 2016. The third rank on the list is
Fuhua Tongda Agro-chemical, a company based in China’s Sichuan province, which
climbed from rank 20 in 2015 to the third rank in 2016 by increasing the
revenue of pesticides from USD240 million to USD552 million. The first rank
from 2015, Jiangsu Huifeng Agrochemical, fell to the fifth rank in 2016.
The
largest pesticide formulation enterprise in China in 2017 is Shenzhen Noposion
Agrochemicals, which is located in Guangdong province and stated a pesticide
revenue of USD265 million in 2016, which is a decline from the year 2015. The
company is ranked 19 on the list of China’s top 100 pesticide enterprises.
Second and third ranked top pesticide formulation enterprises in China are
Guangxi Tianyuan Biochemistry and Jiangsu Rotam Chemistry, respectively.
About CCM
CCM
is the leading market intelligence provider for China’s agriculture, chemicals,
food & ingredients and life science markets.
Do
you want to find out more about the agrochemicals market in China? Try our
Newsletters and Industrial Reports or join our professional online platform
today and get insights in Reports, Newsletter, and Market Data at one place.