AgroPages-Chinese biopesticide development status and export situation analysis-Agricultural news

Paul Zheng

On May 17, the 8th Biopesticide Development and Application Exchange Conference was held in Qingdao, as sponsored by the China Association of Pesticide Development and Application (CAPDA) and co-sponsored by Qingdao Russell IPM Biotech Ltd.

At the conference, China’s biopesticide registration status and export situation of 2016 was discussed and analyzed.

Small proportion of Biopesticides

There are currently some 260 biopesticide enterprises in China, accounting for 10 percent of China’s total pesticide enterprises. China’s annual output of biopesticide formulations is approximately 14,000 tons, which amounts to Yuan4 billion and accounts for 11 percent of the total pesticide output and 11 percent of total pesticide value. In developed countries, such as North America and European countries, the use of biopesticide usually accounts for 30 percent of total pesticides in a country.

At present, China’s biopesticide development has moved into a relatively rapid growing stage, where a number of biopesticide varieties of proprietary intellectual property rights have emerged, such as Ningnanmycin, Shenqinmycin, Atailing, etc.

Limited varieties of registered biopesticide

As per Chinese Pesticide Registration Watch, up until December 31, 2016, a total of 35,600 varieties of pesticide formulations were registered in China, covering 670 kinds of active ingredients, including 3,575 biopesticide formulations (inclusive of antibiotics), covering 105 kinds of active ingredients. The number of biopesticide formulation registrations and the number of active ingredients involved accounted for 10 percent and 15.7 percent, respectively, of that of pesticide.

From the registered active ingredients, it could be seen that China’s biopesticide registrations were still concentrated on antibiotics represented by Abamectin. Up to the end of 2016, a total of 2,279 agricultural antibiotic products were registered, accounting for 64 percent of total biopesticide registrations, which included 1,649 abamectin products, accounting for almost half of the total biopesticide registrations (46 percent). The fact reveals a very limited variety of registered biopesticides.

China’s Biopesticide Registration Status by the End of 2016 (active ingredients classified)

Category	Number of Active Ingredient	Number of Product
Microbial pesticide	39	471
Biochemical pesticide	28	581
Natural enemy	2	4
Botanical pesticide	25	240
Farm antibiotics	13	2279

To be stricter, agricultural antibiotics are not regarded as biopesticides, neither are they acknowledged by the international market. Therefore, biopesticide development in China would be deeply embarrassed if antibiotics are taken out.

New Biopesticide Varieties Registered in 2016

Active Ingredient	Category	Target
Metarhiziumanisopliae CQMa421	Fungal microorganism	Rice plant hopper, rice leaf roller;
Coniothyrium minitans CGMCC8325	Fungal microorganism	Sclerotinia rot of colza
Bacillus methylotro-phicus LW-6	Bacterial microorganism	Citrus canker, xanthomonas, oryzicola, cucumber angular leaf spot
sophora alopecuroids alkaloid	Botanical	Cabbage aphid
D-limonene	Botanical	Bemisia tabaci
terpinen-4-ol	Botanical	Powdery mildew of strawberry, early blight of tomato

Declined Biopesticide Export Volume and Value

According to ICAMA, China exported approximately 3,000 tons of biopesticides in 2016, with a value of $46.93 million, being 31.59 percent and 40.63 percent down respectively over 2015. The pesticide export volume and export value of 2016 was 1.3725 million tons and $5.616 billion, where biopesticide export volume and export value accounted for respectively 0.2 percent and 0.8 percent only. The proportion of biopesticide exports is minimal, which can be even ignored. This situation absolutely does not match the position of China as a prime pesticide export country.

China’s Biopesticide Export in 2011-2016

Year	Volume（tons）	Change	Value( $ million)	Change
2011	3,313	-	50,44	-
2012	4,913	48.29%	65,10	29.06%
2013	4,235	-13.80%	62,90	-3.38%
2014	5,523	30.41%	82,95	31.88%
2015	4,485	-18.79%	79,05	-4.70%
2016	3,068	-31.59%	46,93	-40.63%

China’s Major Biopesticide Export Varieties in 2016 (Top 10)

Rank	Category	Volume（tons）	Value（$ million）
1	Diethyltoluamide	909	5,33
2	Bacillus thuringiensis（var.israelesis）	425	2,69
3	Kasugamycin	388	1,76
4	Bacillus thuringiensis	359	2,58
5	Matrine	331	1,96
6	Ningnanmycin	176	93
7	Gibberellic acid	165	23,17
8	Validamycin	59	13
9	Muscalure	56	95
10	Polyoxins	32	22

Major Destinations of China’s Biopesticide Export in 2016 (Top 10)

Rank	Country	Volume（tons）	Value（$ million）
1	Vietnam	522	5,27
2	Brazil	374	2,39
3	Cuba	251	1,71
4	India	206	3,75
5	US	155	10,58
6	Angola	144	79
7	Peru	128	1,27
8	Pakistan	114	86
9	Indonesia	113	1,08
10	Colombia	109	82