Summary : Driven by policies, China's
biological pesticide market has boomed. In 2025, its application rate in major
grains reached 45%, backed by extensive subsidies. Key products like avermectin
have high market reach. Firms innovate with advanced tech. With 35% of global
exports, China competes strongly and leverages rivals' weaknesses to fuel
growth.
Subsidy Policies
In 2025, the application rate of biological
pesticides in rice, corn, and wheat in the Chinese market will reach 45%. The
government subsidy covers 1 million hectares of paddy fields, and products such
as avermectin and matrine have a penetration rate of over 30% in the fruit and
vegetable areas.
The explosive growth of the Chinese
biological pesticide market stems from the strong impetus of policies.
The "Action Plan for the Reduction of
Chemical Pesticides by 2025" issued by the Ministry of Agriculture and
Rural Affairs clearly designates biological pesticides as the core alternative
solution. It constructs a policy closed loop through tax incentives (such as
reducing the value-added tax from 13% to 9%), a green channel for registration
(shortening the field trial period by 50%), and special subsidies (such as the
central government investing 2.5 billion yuan annually).
For example, in major rice-producing areas
such as Anhui Province and Hubei Province, the "One Million Hectares Paddy
Field Subsidy Program" provides subsidies for the purchase of biological
pesticides at a standard of 40 yuan per mu, covering an area of 1 million hectares.
This directly boosts the application rate of biological pesticides in rice from
28% in 2020 to 45% in 2025.
In terms of the subsidy model, regions like
Beijing and Shanghai adopt the "subsidy instead of distribution"
mechanism, offering subsidies of 90% and 50% respectively for natural enemy
insects and biological pesticides, and achieving precise distribution through
the "Pesticide Reduction and Usage Management System".
This market-oriented operation model has
increased farmers' willingness to independently purchase biological pesticides
by 35%, and the proportion of the application area of non-chemical pesticides
has exceeded 70%.
Market Penetration
Avermectin: As a representative of
microbial pesticides, avermectin has a penetration rate of over 30% in the
fruit and vegetable areas.
Its compound products (such as
avermectin-spirodiclofen, avermectin-pyridaben) are widely used in cash crops
like citrus and grapes. In 2023, the number of registration certificates
reached more than 2,000, and the export volume accounts for 60% of the global
total demand.
For instance, in the citrus-producing areas
of Guangxi, using avermectin to control red spider mites reduces the cost by
15% compared to chemical pesticides, and there is no residue risk.
Matrine: A typical variety of botanical
pesticides, matrine has a penetration rate of 35% in characteristic crops such
as tea trees and traditional Chinese medicinal materials.
Its mechanism of action is to inhibit the
nerve conduction of insects, and it has a remarkable control effect on pests
such as aphids and diamondback moths. Moreover, it meets the EU organic
certification standards, and the export value in 2024 increased by 28%
year-on-year.
Upgrading and Breakthroughs
Chinese biological pesticide enterprises
are realizing product iteration through synthetic biology and nanotechnology.
For example, the high-spore powder
preparation of Beauveria bassiana developed by Wuhan Kenuo has increased the
spore germination rate to 95%, extended the field persistent effect period to
21 days, and reduced the cost by 40% through gene editing technology.
In the field of nanobiopesticides, the
nano-matrine preparation developed by Guanghan Hengyu New Material Company has
increased the leaf adhesion rate by 3 times through particle size control
(below 100 nanometers), improved the drug efficacy by 50%, and the price is on
par with that of chemical pesticides.
Global Exchanges
The export value of Chinese biological
pesticides accounts for 35% of the global trade volume, and products such as
avermectin and matrine dominate the international market.
For example, in 2024, China's export of
biological pesticides to the European Union increased by 38%, mainly used for
organic vegetable cultivation.
Meanwhile, Chinese enterprises participate
in global competition through technology licensing (such as the cooperation
between Lianhua Technology and Dow Chemical to develop RNA fungicides) and
overseas factory establishment (such as Taihe Co., Ltd. setting up a factory in
Brazil). It is expected that the proportion of overseas market sales will
exceed 40% in 2025.
In terms of competition, although India's
share in the US pesticide import market has increased rapidly (reaching 18% in
2023), its industrial chain has significant weaknesses: the import dependence
of intermediates is 60%, and the US has imposed an additional 26% tariff on
Indian pesticides, resulting in the cost of products such as acephate being 25%
higher than that of Chinese products.
Chinese enterprises can respond to this
situation.
For example, by exporting intermediates
(such as 3-phenoxylbenzaldehyde) and conducting technical cooperation (such as
helping Indian enterprises upgrade their fermentation processes), they can
consolidate their advantages, and it is expected that the export value of
biological pesticides to India will increase by 20% in 2025.
The outbreak of the Chinese biological
pesticide market and the expansion of its global scale are essentially the
result of the resonance of policies, technology, and market demand.
Despite facing bottlenecks in price and
effectiveness, innovations such as synthetic biology and nanotechnology are
reshaping the industry landscape.
In the future, enterprises need to find a
balance among green transformation, compliance management, and regional
cooperation in order to occupy a more core position in the global agrochemical
industry chain.
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