Herbicides China Monthly Report

In March, ex-works prices of most herbicides TC continued to drop due to weak downstream market. And in late March, organophosphorus herbicides glufosinate-ammonium TC and glyphosate TC, in particular, saw their ex-works prices dive; the prices of bensulfuron-methyl TC, metolachlor TC, diquat TK and diuron TC also slipped, while the price of florasulam TC edged up a little. It is expected that the general downtrend would last for a while, as off-season for herbicides TC is about to come, and demand is hard to recover in the short term.

As to company dynamics, Jingbo Agrochem's newly-built nicosulfuron TC and topramezone TC production lines have been put into trial operation. Zhangye Dagong's 3,000 t/a mesotrione TC production line and the supporting facilities have passed the company-organised environmental protection acceptance check upon project completion. Hangzhou Nutrichem's imazapyr TC line has also come into trial production.

Regarding policies, expanding the planting area of soybean and oil crops was mentioned at the press conference on 2022 China's agricultural and rural economic performance held in Jan. 2023. Soybean growing will continue to be supported by government policies and an addition of at least 0.67 million ha is expected.

China has been promoting industrial application of breeds cultivated via biological technologies and accelerating the industrialisation of genetically modified crops. On 3 Feb., 2023, MARA published the Implementation Opinions on Carrying out the Major Tasks in Comprehensively Boosting Rural Revitalisation in 2023 Outlined by the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council. It stated that the government should accelerate industrialisation of breeds thus cultivated, further increase pilot programs for industrial application of genetically modified maize and soybean varieties, and strengthen supervision on these practices as required by related laws and regulations. On 21 Feb., NATESC released the Notice of Applying for National Unified Experiment for Genetically Modified Maize and Soybean Strains, which announced to set up unified experiment for such maize and soybean breeds in 2023. From a long-term perspective, facilitating the development of biological breeding industry will benefit herbicides, such as glufosinate-ammonium and glyphosate, that are suitable for genetically modified crops. Let's wait and see how the industry will develop in the future.

The USD/CNY exchange rate in this newsletter is USD1.00 = CNY6.9400 on 1 March, 2023, sourced from the People's Bank of China. All the prices mentioned in this newsletter will include the VAT, unless otherwise specified.