AgroPages-2018 Global Top 20 Agrochemical Companies Achieved Business Growth, 10 Chinese Companies Stepping Into Top 20-Agricultural news

Grace Yuan

Global Marketing Director

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Recently, AgroPages published the list of 2018 global top 20 agrochemical companies. Over recent years, the acquisition and merger between large companies have increased industry concentration, which renewed again the top 20 list, where a new top 4 was born, followed by FMC and ADAMA ranking the 5th place and 6th place on the list. Ten Chinese companies have stepped into the list, which accounts for half of the top 20. The dollar-calculated sales of almost all companies on the list have increased to different degrees, of which ten companies achieved two-digit growth.

According to the census of Phillips McDougall, the total global sales of crop-targeted pesticides in 2018 was $57.561 billion, 6% up year on year. After the 3-year downward situation (2015: -9.6%；2016: -2.5%; 2017: +2.5%), the global agrochemical industry has got back to its normal business status, which is fully reflected in the 2018 top 20.

After the completion of acquisition and merger, the synergistic effect of the new top 4, which are Syngenta, Bayer, BASF and Corteva, has gradually emerged, resulting in sales growth of each of the top 4 to different degrees. Among them, Syngenta, the subsidiary of ChemChina, ranks the 1st place with its sales of $9.909 billion, 7.2% up year on year. The sales of all products of the company has increased, of which insecticide sales has increased 16%. As Bayer has completed acquisition of Monsanto, its pesticide sales (excluding seed treatment business) has noticeably increased 26.5%. BASF has achieved 3.2% increase in pesticide sales, of which the sales of functional crop protection businesses composed of seed treatment and biologics increased 52% dramatically. In 2018, Corteva achieved pesticide sales of $6.445 billion, 4.2% up year on year.

In 2018, FMC rose to the 5th place with sales of $4.285 billion, its growth rate reached 69.3%, which is the highest growth rate among the companies on the top 20 list, being attributable to acquisitions of some crop protection businesses from DuPont. ADAMA, the subsidiary of ChemChina, achieved 10% increase in pesticide sales. The sales of ADAMA have increased in all countries, including the sharp increase of 25% in Latin America (inclusive of non-pesticide products).

Sales of top 20 global agrochemical firms in 2018

2018 (2017) Ranking	Company	Year 2018 ($ million)¹	Year 2017 ($ million) ¹	% Change²
1 (1)	Syngenta ^3,4	9,909	9,244	7.2
2 (2)	Bayer Crop Science ⁵	9,641	7,622	+26.5
3 (3)	BASF⁶	6,916	6,704	+3.2
4 (4)	Corteva⁷	6,445	6,184	+4.2
5 (7)	FMC	4,285	2,531	+69.3
6 (6)	ADAMA³	3,617	3,259	+11.0
7 (9)	UPL⁸	2,741	2,296	+19.4
8 (8)	Sumitomo Chemical⁸	2,538	2,487	+2.0
9 (10)	Nufarm⁹	2,332	2,234	+4.4
10 (12)	Huapont Life Sciences	935	900	+3.9
11 (14)	Nanjing Red Sun	891	710	+25.5
12 (15)	Kumiai Chemical¹⁰	881	693	+27.3
13 (13)	Rainbow Chemical	809	747	+8.3
14 (17)	Jiangsu Yangnong	788	646	+22.0
15 (16)	Fuhua Tongda	721	639	+12.8
16 (-)	Wynca Chemical	665	623	+6.7
17 (-)	Lier Chemical	606	465	+30.3
18 (19)	Nissan Chemical⁸	571	517	+10.3
19 (-)	Lianyungang Liben Crop Science	561	538	+4.3
20 (18)	Sipcam-Oxon	544	531	+2.6
Notes: 1. Based on the average dollar exchange rate in the initial report of the fiscal year 2. YOY rate of change sales in dollar 3. Now belonging to ChemChina 4. Excluding turf, landscape and seed and trait business sales. 5. Excluding seed treatment sales and environmental science business sales 6. Excluding seed and trait business sales 7. 2017 sales in the form (assuming completion of merger between DuPont and Dow Chemical on the 1st January 2016), excluding seed and trait business sales. 8. Sales of 2018 and 2017 fiscal years closed on the 31st March of 2018 and 2017 respectively. 9. Sales of 2018 and 2017 fiscal years closed on the 31st July of 2018 and 2017 respectively. 10. Sales of 2018 and 2017 fiscal years closed on the 31st October of 2018 and 2017 respectively.

Thanks to the successful acquisition of Arysta, UPL’s pesticide sales increased 19%. Due to the adverse climate in North America, BRL and INR exchange rate impact, the pesticide sales of Sumitomo Chemical decreased slightly 2%. The pesticide sales of Nufarm increased 4.4%, except sales in Australia and New Zealand, the sales in all other countries have increased. Nufarm’s acquisition of businesses from FMC, Syngenta and ADAMA contributed to Nufarm’s sales increase.

Among the 11 companies next to the 9th place, eight are Chinese companies, four of them achieved two-digit sales growth. Beijing Nutrichem successfully moved into top 10, Nanjing Red Sun and Yangnong Chemical both achieved over 20% increase in pesticide sales, Sichuan Fuhua Tongda Agro-Chemical achieved 12.8% increase in pesticide sales, Lier Chemical and Liben Crop Science stepped into top 20 for the first time with sales of $605 million and 561 million respectively, of which Lier Chemical achieved over 30% increase in pesticide sales.

The other three companies on the top 20 list are respectively Kumiai Chemical ranking the 12th place, Nissan Chemical ranking the 18th place and Sipcam-Oxon ranking the 20th place. Among these three companies, Kumiai Chemical and Nissan Chemical both achieved two-digit growth, of which Kumiai Chemical achieved a 27.3% high increase. Sipcam-Oxon is the only Italian company on the top 20, its pesticide sales in dollar increased 2.6%.

This article was initially published in AgroPages '2019 Market Insight' magazine. Download the PDF version of the magazine to read more articles.

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