Dean Corbett, Accensi CEO. Corbett is also a director and treasurer for Croplife Australia and a director for AgStewardship Australia. He has 24 years’ experience in agriculture and has worked with Accensi for 21 years.
Editor’s note: Watch the September issue of 农用化学品国际 深入了解澳大利亚和新西兰的作物保护市场。以下是对总部位于昆士兰的首席执行官 Dean Corbett 的采访预览 阿琴西.
联邦调查局： Can you please talk a bit about your company, Accensi’s work with local and multinational companies, and how you got started?
80 年代后期，该公司开始生产砷基木材处理化学品。这是一个有限的市场，从第一天起我们就占有了市场份额，而且不能再进一步了。市场有利可图，但没有很好地利用场地和许可要求。草甘膦专利到期两年后，还有更多专利即将失效。对于新兴的仿制药市场来说，这是一个充满机遇的时代。在那些日子里，分销公司非常不愿意接受仿制药供应商。我们很快采取了三管齐下的方法；我们为少数几家通用的初创企业提供服务，创建了我们自己的标签，我们将其推向利基行业，因此不与我们的客户竞争，并且我们定期与分销网络会面，因为他们经常讨论他们自己的品牌标签的想法。
90 年代中期，IAMA（当时最大的分销公司）推出了自己的品牌 Artfern。对 IAMA 和我们施加的市场压力非常大；然而，我们的坚持让 Artfern 品牌每年都变得更加强大。他们有一支优秀的产品经理团队，他们可以快速开发专利后产品，经常尝试与跨国公司合作。我们与他们密切合作，从 1995 年到 2000 年，我们的业务规模每年都翻一番。
到 2000 年，我们已经确立了良好的地位，我们的质量达到了高标准，并且在 1995 年获得了 ISO 认证，我们现在开始承接跨国公司的业务。
到 2003 年，我们在该国两边都设有工厂，因此能够提供其他配方设计师无法比拟的服务。
联邦调查局： 就作物保护市场而言，澳大利亚有哪些独特或更为突出的因素？
与世界其他地区相比，澳大利亚是一个小市场，但我们的制造法规很高。同时，我们进入市场的门槛低，注册副本便宜且相对快捷。海外公司认为这是一个容易进入的完整配方产品；然而，进入市场是至关重要的，没有市场准入大多数都会失败。
高度管制的制造标准加上市场上的低利润率造成了很难在制造领域生存的地位。那些不具备临界质量或只销售单一品牌的公司发现很难参与竞争。我们最近看到一家大公司关闭了他们的一些设施。
Accensi 过去 10 年的立场是，数量是关键。通过专注于此，我们现在已经达到了需要第三个设施来服务市场的位置。到 2015 年第一季度末，Accensi 将在吉朗（维多利亚）开设一家新工厂，为南部市场提供服务。
As margins contract, logistics come into play. We are seeing a need to produce in Queensland, Western Australia and Victoria in order to offer our clients the best value position. By using a local manufacturer, clients can decide at the last minute what formulation strength they want and what pack size to put it in. Add to this that we are now close to all three markets and our clients have the best value proposition in terms of JIT [“just in time” inventory strategy] and market demands.
联邦调查局： 是否存在供应链问题，如果有，您能否详细说明？
澳大利亚不仅是一个小市场，而且地处偏远。大多数原料都是进口的，而且下游供应链中的大多数公司都试图保持最低库存水平，运输延迟，无论是农历新年还是当地码头问题，都可能导致农民层面的库存中断。精明的农民已经学会携带自己的常用产品缓冲区。
联邦调查局： 目前，哪些问题对澳大利亚市场的种植者和公司影响最大？
A concern that we see regularly is that imports are not from the registered source. You get occasions whereby an overseas registered factory will be out of stock of a product, so they simply call up their opposition and buy it from them. Being a recipient of many AIs, we see this inconsistency all the time. The regulator (AVPMA) will audit the local formulators like Accensi but do not audit the foreign suppliers. This is a huge hole in the system and it’s only a matter of time before the industry suffers from a contamination event that has occurred offshore. Recently we had a container of AI arrive that was not even the product ordered. it was totally different. It was lucky that it was an AI and not a finished product destined to be sprayed on food. The priorities of the APVMA need to change before a catastrophe occurs.
联邦调查局： 你能谈谈一些主要的机会和增长的地区吗？哪些 AI 和制剂的需求量在增长，哪些农作物？
为了节省运费，一直在推动开发高负载产品，但应该朝另一个方向推进：减少活性并使用高效润湿系统以获得更好的吸收。这样做，农民可以获得更好的成本定位并减少 AI 抗性的影响。双重活性物质也正在出现，这将有助于抵抗，但我怀疑它们是否会为农民省钱。
联邦调查局： 杂草抗性问题有多严重，种植者如何解决这个问题？
Accensi 从最终用户那里移除了三到四个步骤，但是即使回到现在，我们也可以看到我们生产的产品的使用趋势发生了变化。肯定存在替代产品和更好地管理其使用的运动。
联邦调查局： 如果我们着眼于大局，您如何描述澳大利亚作物保护市场的现状并展望 2015 年？
The big influence is and always will be weather. We live in a very dry part of the world — the driest continent. If we get good summer rain across the country we all have a bumper season and that tends to be what we remember — the good times. Having run this business for 24 years I have seen way more dry years than good. The market is crowded because people only see the good seasons; each year there are more and more registrations of the same products yet the market on year-in year-out averages only grows at under 5%. I have seen a lot of companies badly burnt because they don’t have access to market and/or a strong position from manufacturing. The last few years have seen a lot of small players drop out of the market and a deconsolidation of many multinational trading arrangements. It’s almost like the rise and fall of the tides, but in each ebb and flow the overall industry margins are eroded even further.
联邦调查局： 还有哪些主题值得一提？
Australia is a country that offers its farmers very little support. Other than a few very good tax breaks there is little in the way of incentives or subsidies. Australian farming relies on cheap inputs. Crop protection chemicals, nutrients and animal health products are all sold here at very low margins which is created by the government’s low barrier to enter the market. One day this model will fail and we will find ourselves with either an export or domestic crop contaminated or worse, harm to livestock or a person.
澳大利亚需要通过更好的监管体系来保护其人民和农产品。