According
to official data by Beijing, the demand for herbicides in China will rise in
2018. Market intelligence firm CCM lists some of the main factors influencing
the demand in China.
Official
data from the Chinese government are revealing, that the country is increasing
the demand for herbicides in 2018, compared to the current year. The growth is
stated to be around 3%.
Glyphosate,
the famous herbicide that recently has made big news when the European Union
has agreed to keep it for another 5 years on the fields, will be one of the top
herbicides by demand in China again. The data also shows the herbicides with
the highest growth in demand for 2018, including pesticides
like penoxsulam.
In
2017, weeds seriously affected China’s farmlands. Affected by environmental
protection, rising raw material prices, as well as increasing labour and
transportation costs, the market prices of herbicide technical keep rising in
the middle kingdom. It is predicted that the total consumption volumes of
chemical pesticide will be rising slightly over last year. Thereinto, the usage
of herbicides also witness growth.
Factors that influence
in China’s herbicide market
Weed
resistance to herbicides is one of the key drivers for influencing herbicide
demand in the next year. Monitoring results show that there are increasing
weeds resistant to herbicide in rice, wheat and corn fields, with a rising
resistance level and expanding occurrence area. To counter the rising
resistance of weed on China’s fields, farmers are increasing the dose of
herbicides used to kill them, which further speed up resistance processes. In
fact, herbicide-resistant weeds are one of the biggest problems in the market
nowadays. One measurement to counter resistance is the usage of mixed
formulations, which will become more important in China in the future.
Furthermore,
new weeds are entering Chinese crop fields, raising new problems for farmers,
but opening opportunities for herbicide sellers. In the past two years, new
weeds such as Iran speed well and malachium aquaticum have
been found on Chinese fields. These new weeds along with some other ones have
become major weeds in some areas of the middle kingdom, and they are difficult
to control. Hence, new herbicides are searched for by Chinese farmers to
effectively counter the spread of new weeds while still fighting the regular
weeds as well.
What’s
more, farmers in China are getting more skilled in using different herbicides.
Some herbicide products are highly disputed in China. As a result, farmers
don’t really trust them and refuse to use them on their crops. As a fact,
farmers used to be unaware of specific application methods for their herbicide
products and they used them wrong, not bringing the results they hoped for.
However, Chinas’ farmers are slowly learning how to use different kinds of herbicides
regarding weather changes and application scopes. Hence, previously unpopular
herbicides are getting more popular again in many regions of China, so
manufacturers and traders can expect more sales in the coming year.
Product
prices greatly affect the purchase habits of farmers, but as the number of
weeds is rising and resistant weeds become a more serious issue day after day,
regular herbicides cannot solve these problems. In other words, cost becomes
less important for farmers, or at least not a priority. They are willing to
spend more on herbicides, as long as they are effective.
Finally,
it used to take a long time to promote a herbicide with new ingredients, but
now, once a new product that demonstrates good weedkilling effects comes to
market, it immediately sells quickly. Distributors and enterprises both pay
great attention to new product promotions and launches. It has become normal
for distributors to pay in advance for new products. Enterprises also register
new products quickly, and farmers don't care what they cost.
About this news
CCM
is publishing a monthly Newsletter about China’s herbicides market. Stay
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the monthly report.
The
Newsletter includes market news, influencing politics, company dynamics, price,
import, export, and much other relevant information for enterprises
involved in the herbicide business in China.