With the Chinese government’s strengthened support of agriculture since the beginning of 2012, the demand for pesticides has grown steadily in China. Agrochemical output rose 19.3% to reach 2.87 million tonnes in the first 10 months of 2012. Although output of insecticides and fungicides both showed decreases of 7.9% and 9.4%, respectively, compared to the same period in 2011, herbicide production showed a significant 42.5% jump, driven by good sales of glyphosate and 2,4-D, and reached 1.32 million tonnes in total.
前九个月出口总产量达75万吨，占总产量26.2%。出口总值增长 17.3% 至 $23.6 亿。出口产品单价小幅上涨。高附加值制剂产品出口量攀升，进军欧美高端市场。
与出口数据相比，进口数据看起来更好。进口农药价值增长23.2%至$04.8亿元。中国前九个月进口了 54,200 吨，降至每吨 $8,879。进口贸易的改善还体现在跨国公司业务的增加上。
The role of the multinationals’ formulation products has gradually become dominant, while the sale of domestic products has been restricted to some extent. Take the example of the rice planthopper occurrence this year. The prevailing product applied was Bayer’s Merit, and domestically, pymetrozine and buprofezin.
In the competition to prevent rice stem borer and rice caseworm, domestic chlorpyrifos, triazophos and acephate have totally lost ground to their multinational rivals: DuPont’s Rynaxypyr, Bayer’s Belt and Syngenta’s Virtako. This also explains partly why insecticide production has declined.
新的政策给行业带来了巨大的推动力。修订后的《农药管理条例》将于今年年底出台，重点从完善登记管理、加强生产、质量控制、提高经营门槛、促进农药安全使用、明确各监管部门职责五个方面入手。特别是实行农药经营许可证制度，有利于形成订单流通市场。其他针对特定产品的政策将对该行业的产销产生影响，必将促进产品结构升级。
农药政策影响草甘膦
第一个受《农药管理条例》影响的产品是草甘膦。年初以来，草甘膦价格缓慢上涨，至11月份涨幅达到35%。这一切都直接关系到活性含量低于30%的草甘膦AS的禁用。这一禁令意味着草甘膦生产商的环保成本更高，从而提高了生产成本。此外，由于严格的环境法规，许多落后的设施被迫关闭。这两个因素降低了整体产出。
To avoid the 2008 glyphosate bubble repeating itself, CCPIA’s glyphosate task force is trying to keep the relevant administration departments posted about the real situation of the industry.
One negatively impacted product is paraquat, which has the second-largest output in China. The Ministry of Agriculture’s joint notice 1745 will phase out paraquat completely as of July 1, 2016, due to increased poisoning and suicide cases in China. Since May, approval of new plants for producing paraquat technical and formulation has been ceased, and applications for registration and production permits of paraquat technical and aqueous solution (AS) have been terminated. From July 1, 2014, registration and production permits of paraquat AS will be cancelled, while the registration of paraquat AS produced by paraquat technical enterprise will continue solely for export purpose.
To help paraquat producers deal with a tough situation, CCPIA Paraquat Stewardship Alliance Working Group adopted actions, such as assisting in setting up a 24-hour poison information hotline, educating farmers on safe paraquat use, and offering training on medical staff’s knowledge about paraquat poisoning. It also helped enterprises to develop new formulations. For example, until now, the water soluble granule formulation developed by Shandong Luba has the registration license, while the gel formulation developed by Red Sun has almost finished the registration procedure. These measures are expected to extend the product life cycle of paraquat.
在去年被农业部禁止后，现在也有关于阿维菌素软膏下一步将何去何从的激烈讨论。阿维菌素软膏的问题预计将引发一系列杀虫剂的价格上涨，例如阿维菌素苯甲酸盐，自 2012 年 6 月以来工业级价格已经上涨。现在CCPIA阿维菌素专案组对阿维菌素软膏的成分进行了研究，希望能找到解决办法。
不难看出，农化行业的资源成本不可避免地增加，这将是未来的大势所趋。考虑到人民币升值和劳动力成本上升，CCPIA认为，2013年全球经济低迷和国内市场变化将给农化行业带来越来越多的挑战。
有关此主题和许多其他主题的更多信息，请在下周查看 Farm Chemicals International 2 月号的剩余部分