A promising future market: New Power to obtain first domestic registration for Cyenopyrafen

″To provide the most environmentally-friendly agricultural pesticide products to society, offer the optimal solutions for our clients, and build the best career platform for our employees.″

-- Zhou Zhihu, Chairman of Shandong New Power Chemical Group

A modern agricultural service provider specializing in the research, production and sales of pesticide technicals and formulations

Shandong New Power Chemical Group is a modern, high-tech enterprise group that integrates the research, development, production and sales of chemical technicals and pesticide formulations, along with providing agricultural technology services. The group is based in Country Garden, Phoenix Center, in the central business district (CBD) of Jinan City, occupying a prime location with an office area of nearly 2,000-square meters.

The group’s Research and Development Center is situated within Yin Feng Bio-City in the Eastern District of the Jinan Innovation Zone. It has established long-term strategic partnerships with several prestigious research institutions, including Tsinghua University, Tianjin University, Shandong Academy of Agricultural Sciences and the Shanghai Institute of Organic Chemistry. The center has successfully applied for more than 30 national patents and received numerous recognitions for its technological achievements at both provincial and municipal levels.

The group’s formulation production base is located in Ningjin County, Dezhou City, Shandong Province. The base covers an area of 30,000-square meters and contains specialist production workshops for insecticides, fungicides, acaricides, plant growth regulators, herbicides and others. It is equipped with over 30 fully-automated production lines, state-of-the-art production equipment and excellent testing instruments. The group offers strong technical expertise, and has been recognized as one of the ″Top Ten Pesticide Brands″ in Shandong for three consecutive terms.

Leaders from the People’s Government of Shandong Province visited the company to provide guidance on its operations

The group’s technical production base, Dezhou New Power Fine Chemical Co., Ltd., (DNP), has received a total investment of RMB1 billion and has a registered capital of RMB50 million. It is located in the provincial-level chemical industrial park in Pingyuan County, Shandong Province. The base covers an area of over 300 mu and produces a total of 8,500 tons of fine chemical products, including pesticide technicals, such as Diafenthiuron, Indoxacarb, Cyenopyrafen, SDHI fungicides and related intermediates. Notably, Indoxacarb is produced by utilizing a new process, with an annual production capacity reaching 500 tons. Cyenopyrafen is the first of its kind product registered domestically. The product purity for these two substances exceeds 97%. According to the ″Notice on Issuing the Adjustment List of Provincial Key Projects for 2023 by the Shandong Development and Reform Commission,″ DNP’s 8500t/a fine chemical production project has been designated as a provincial key project for 2023, because the project has established green automated production lines that produce highly efficient, safe and environmentally-friendly pesticides, which can help increase crop yields and quality.

The research and development of Cyenopyrafen compounds

Phytophagous mites, characterized by their diversity, wide distribution and polyphagous nature, are recognized worldwide as a challenging group of harmful organisms to control. They are known for their small size, rapid development, strong reproductive capacity, and tendency to develop resistance to pesticides. This has resulted in significant crop yield reductions in various regions around the world. In recent years, the damage caused by these mites has been rising, and the continued use of mainstream acaricides in the market has led to the continuous rise in mite resistance. As a result, there is an urgent need to develop new types of acaricides to replace conventional ones.

Cyenopyrafen is a novel pyrazole acaricide developed by the Nissan Chemical Corporation in the early 21st century. Since its introduction to the market, it has been widely used to control mite pests on various crops, such as vegetables, fruits and tea. Cyenopyrafen has a unique mode of action. It undergoes metabolic transformation into carbonyl compounds, which then affect the electron transport chain in the respiratory system of pests. By disrupting the function of succinate dehydrogenase, it inhibits the normal function of mitochondria, therefore, achieving its acaricidal effect. Cyenopyrafen is known for its low toxicity, low application rates, crop safety, broad mite spectrum and no cross-resistance with existing mainstream acaricides.

Production facility of Shandong New Power Chemical Group

Shandong New Power Chemical Group is dedicated to the research and development of Cyenopyrafen. The group launched the Cyenopyrafen technical project and is simultaneously developing formulation products, such as 30% Cyenopyrafen suspension concentrate. Extensive efficacy trials showed that the 30% Cyenopyrafen suspension concentrate reaches its peak mite-killing effectiveness within 72 hours. When used at a dilution rate of 2,000 times, it achieves a mite killing rate of over 95% against pests such as citrus red mites and Tetranychus urticae on apples, and Zizyphus jujuba Mill., Tetranychus urticae and Polyphagotarsonemus latus on vegetables. It exhibits no cross-resistance with mainstream acaricides. In practical applications, it can effectively extend the residual efficacy of acaricides when used in combination with Etoxazole or Spirodiclofen, among others.

Currently, Cyenopyrafen is registered in China only by Nissan Chemical Corporation, including 95% Cyenopyrafen technical (PD20190053) and 30% Cyenopyrafen suspension concentrate (PD20190052) for the control of Tetranychus urticae and red mites on apple trees, as well as two-Tetranychus urticae on strawberries. Since May this year, the new pesticide protection period for Cyenopyrafen expired in China. With the banning of high-risk insecticides and acaricides, such as Dicofol, and the increasing interest of foreign companies in registering Cyenopyrafen in China, Cyenopyrafen products are expected to have promising prospects in the domestic acaricide market in the future.

Expanding the industrial chain, exploring new target markets and paving the way for future growth

With the completion of DNP’s 8500t/a fine chemical production project, Shandong New Power Chemical Group has gradually shaped the strategic blueprint of its ″One Core, Two Wings″ approach. This strategy integrates the ″Technicals + Formulations″ production base as the core, with ″Domestic Market + International Market″ serving as the two growth wings. The integration of technicals and formulations, as well as domestic and international trade, coupled with the extension of the industry chain and target markets, created significant development opportunities for the company and enhanced its overall market competitiveness.

Under the framework of the ″One Core, Two Wings″ strategy, New Power Chemical Group has drafted six sub-strategies to facilitate the achievement of five integrations:

1. Dual-drive strategy: On one front, the group is intensifying its research and development efforts to innovate environmentally-friendly, cost-effective and sustainable products. Concurrently, the group is strengthening the development of its marketing teams to elevate marketing and service capabilities. For the technical business, a primary focus is placed on quality and cost advantages, and for the formulation business, emphasis is directed towards service and channel advantages. This approach involves separate operations with the ultimate goal of achieving management integration.

2. Solution strategy: The group focuses unwaveringly on crops, driving the continuous expansion of its product portfolio to effectively address farmers’ challenges and help ensure their increased yields and incomes. The group is dedicated to developing end-to-end solution services for crops, such as citrus in the southern region and field crops and fruit trees in the northern region of the country, therefore, progressing the integration of products and services.

3. In-depth marketing strategy: The group follows an approach to achieve thorough regional penetration, by expanding its customer base and providing comprehensive services. The focal point is the strategic concentration on essential regions and key clients within the domestic formulation market, to realize the integration of value between manufacturers and distribution channels.

4. Global strategy: The group is advancing the integration of domestic and international trade, establishing an outstanding international market operations team, expanding its product registrations in foreign market, strengthening its strategic collaborations with trading companies, and accelerating the global presence of both technicals and formulations.

5. Talent development strategy: The group believes that talent is its most valuable asset for growth. To this end, it cultivates an environment that nurtures employees, prioritizes their well-being, fosters cultural alignment, and encourages shared interests, to establish a community with shared interests, a common purpose and a shared future.

6. Research and innovation strategy: The group is intensifying its efforts to attract exceptional talents, forging stronger collaborations with research institutions, cultivating a pipeline of forward-looking new compounds and cutting-edge technologies, and persistently advancing the development of new products and formulations.

Shandong New Power Chemical Group is always committed to the research, production and distribution of high-tech agrochemical products, delivering cutting-edge technology, superior quality products and exceptional services, as well as providing society with the most environmentally-friendly pesticide products, and aspiring to become an integrated crop protection solutions industry group in China, encompassing both technicals and formulations.

Appendix 1: Technical Product Series of New Power Chemical Group

Appendix 2: Formulation Product Series of New Power Chemical Group

Contact Information

Address: 9F, Building A, Country Garden  Phoenix Center, Jingshi Road, Jinan Innovation Zone

Company website: http://www.new-power.com.cn/

Contact: Mr. Wu +86 18954155577 (WeChat)

lf you want to get in touch with New Power, or share your company story and introduce your technology/product specialty, please contact Mickey Shan at: mickey@agropages.com

This article was initially published in AgroPages' '2023 Market Insight' magazine.