Despite expiration of patent around the corner in China, flubendiamide remains potential for soybean and cotton markets in South America 09-25-2019

Flubendiamide was first founded by a Japanese company called Nihon Nohyaku in 1998. With the help of Bayer, it finally came into being as a diamide insecticide in 2001. Nowadays, flubendiamide is widely utilized among soybeans, vegetables, fruit trees, cotton, gourds, grapes, nut trees, tobacco and tea. However, the patent of flubendiamide will expire soon in China, more specifically on November 29, 2019.


Earlier in 2015, it was suggested by the Chinese government that application of registration that refers to flubendiamide used for rice should not be approved anymore. Besides, all registered products with the same use should be revoked.


At the moment, only flubendiamide TC from Nihon Nohyaku and Bayer has an approved registration in China. As for formulation, suspending agent, microemulsion, water dispersible granule as well as wettable powder are approved. In contrast, when it comes to compound, only Emamectin benzoate and Molosultap get the approval in the country. Because of the restricted application of rice, corn and cruciferous vegetables are confirmed as the registered crops against lepidopteran pests.

 

Brazil regarded as the biggest market for flubendiamide in the world

Flubendiamide was put in the market in 2007. Four years later, flubendiamide reached a global sales volume of USD 150 million. In 2012, its sales volume ascended to USD 230 million, with the compound annual growth (2007 – 2012) of 87.2%. In the next year, the global sales volume of flubendiamide reached USD 454 million, increasing by 93.5% year on year with the compound annual growth (2008 – 2013) of 77.9%.


Due to the outbreak of bollworms in Brazil, 2014 witnessed the dramatic growth of demands for flubendiamide in the market. In that year, the global sales volume of flubendiamide reached its historical peak at the value of USD 530 million, with the compound annual growth (2009 – 2014) of 67.7%.


Ever since then, Brazil became the biggest market for flubendiamide in the world, with India, China, U.S.A. and Japan following in sequence. In 2015, the sales volume of flubendiamide in Brazil got to USD 228 million, representing 47.7% of the global market, which was USD 480 million. India was ranked in the second place, with the sales volume of USD 39 million, accounting for 8.2% of the global market. The third place went to China with the proportion of 5.3%, while the U.S.A. only represented 4.1%.


However, at the beginning of March in 2016, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced to revoke the registration of flubendiamide in the country. This announcement forced Bayer to withdraw flubendiamide used for over 200 crops from the list of registration. In the same year, China made the similar move by banning using flubendiamide for rice.

 

Flubendiamide has potential markets for soybean and cotton in South America

In spite of the restriction in the U.S. and China, flubendiamide has found its potential market in South America. In 2016, South America became the greatest regional market of flubendiamid, with a sales volume of USD205 million, accounting for 46.2% of the global market. Just take Brazil as an example. In terms of the sales volume, a value of USD 186 million was reached in Brazil in the same year, which represented 41.9% of the total market. Surprisingly, most of the sales volume went to soybean.


Instead of rice, soybean has reached the biggest target for flubendiamide. In 2015, flubendiamide for soybean had a sales volume of USD 201 million, taking up 41.8% of the global flubendiamide market. In contrast, flubendiamide for cotton was in the second place with a sales volume of USD 44 million, representing 9.1% of the global market. The third place went to the application of corn with a market share of 4.7%, while flubendiamide for rice only accounted for 2.5% of the market share. Some market insiders speculate that flubendiamide will be still very potential for soybean and cotton markets in South America and South Asia even after its expiry of patent on November 29, 2019.

 

For more information about China’s insecticides market, please have a look at our monthly newsletter Insecticides China News.

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