Currently,
China’s nation-wide work safety inspection is ongoing with a strict
administrative policy. As a result, there is a growing number of factories
where production has been shut down or restricted. Not only does it cause a
situation of tight supply, but also leads to manufacturers that are unwilling
to take orders. At the moment, the Chinese pesticide market is experiencing a
downturn. Prices of herbicide and insecticide underwent a drop last month. On
the contrary, with a sharp rise in April, prices of Fungicide still remained
high in May.
In terms of
China’s pesticide market, prices started to increase by a relatively wide
margin last year. However, prices start to fall this year. According to the
market turnover of pesticide products, prices have been decreasing constantly
from January to April this year, compared to the same period of last year. The
Xiangshui Explosion strikes the market especially bad. After the explosion,
factories have been moved, production has been turned down, and a nation-wide
safety inspection has been expanded. All of these factors impose a detrimental
impact on China’s factory capacity, which leads to a tension of market supply
as well as fluctuations of market prices.
A generally
decreasing tendency seen in China’s pesticide market
In general, the Chinese pesticide market fails to recover
in a positive way recently. Some varieties still remain slow, but there is also
growth of prices for other varieties. At present, both the herbicide market and
insecticide market have a slump in prices, while those of fungicides remain
high and stable.
Herbicide
market:
In May, prices of glyphosate technical remained low,
with a drop to RMB24, 500 per ton. Glufosinate technical continued to go down
with a decreasing price within RMB140, 000 per ton. Due to a slack season,
prices of atrazine technical reached around RMB22, 500 per ton, under great inventory
pressure.
Insecticide
market:
The trend of the insecticide market still remained slow
in this month. Prices of imidacloprid technical went down to RMB155, 000 per
ton and those of acetamiprid technical fell to RMB163, 000 per ton,
without obvious improvement in market turnover, compared to the last period. Chlorpyrifos
still remained at the price of RMB46, 000 per ton, which has been staying still
for quite a long while.
Fungicide market:
In April, the fungicide price index reached 137.04, with a
month-on-month increase by 0.22% and a year-on-year rise by 14.69%. Among the
fungicide products, only carbendazim and mancozeb technical had decreasing
prices with a month-on-month drop respectively by 4.57% and 4.63%, which
dragged down the price index by 1.7%. However, prices of other fungicide
technicals such as chlorothalonil, tebuconazole, thiophanate-methyl, propiconazole,
and difenoconazole all experienced growth, with a month-on-month increasing
rate respectively at 0.44%, 5.18%, 3.55%, 3.58% as well as 4.94%. This rise
brought another growth in the price index by 2.43%.
During May, tight supply showed up in the fungicide market. Tricyclazole
technical was in a comparatively greater demand, with a price of more than
RMB93, 000 per ton. Carbendazim technical had a stable price, while 98% chlorothalonil
prices reached RMB55, 000 per ton.
For more information about China's fungicide market, please have a look at our monthly newsletter Fungicides China News.