Present aspects of pesticide production in the first half of 2008

In the first half of 2008, accumulated production output of technical pesticide products was 1,011,000 tonnes, increased by 20.8% over the same period over 2007, among which insecticide 351,000 tonnes, fungicide 113,000 tonnes, herbicide 341,000 tonnes, up 7.0%, 94.8% and 26.6% over 2007, respectively.?

Due to the complicated climate changes and seed industry restructuring, the demands for fungicide increased sharply, which resulted in the output of fungicide products rising accordingly, up to 94.8% in the first half, getting the highest. Monthly pesticide production output and growth rate in the first half of 2008 is given in Chart 1:

2. Import and Export
According to the date released by the National Bureau of Statistics of China, pesticide import/export and trade favorable balance in the first half of 2008 is shown in table 2:

From above table it is shown that the exported pesticide increased greatly. The imported pesticide amount was 27,000 tonnes, increased by 11.8%; the imported pesticide value reached $0.17 billion, increased by 31.1%, the imported average price was $63 million/t, up 14.5%. Among them, the imported insecticide decreased slightly, while imported herbicide and fungicide increased by 12.0% and 4.8%, respectively. The exported pesticide amount reached 288,000 tonnes, increased by 16.4%, the exported pesticide value reached $1.21 billion, increased by 84.8%, and the exported average price was $42 million/t, up 54.4%. The exported amount accounts for 25.8% of the total output. Among them, exported herbicide was 158,000 tonnes, increased by 13.3%, accounting for 54.9% of the total export, 46.3% of herbicide production. The exported herbicide value was $ 0.75 billion, up 112.6%, the average exported price was $4,747/t, increased by 87.0%, which mainly caused by the price growth of glyphosate products. The exported fungicide was 33,000 tonnes, increased by 25.3%, accounting for 11.5% of the total, 29.2% of fungicide production; the exported fungicide value reached $0.13 billion, up 65.8%, the average exported price was $3,940/t, increased by 75.5%. The favorable trade balance was $1.03 billion, increased by 98.5%.

Monthly exported pesticide amount, value, favorable trade balance in the first half of 2008 is given in Chart 2:

3. Production characteristics of the first half of 2008
All the analysis shows that there are following remarkable features of pesticide production:
Pesticide production remained a good situation. The production output reached the summit of 101,000 tonnes, with production and marketing rate above 95.6%, up 1.4%, the price grew gradually.

Structure adjustment was improved. Highly-toxic organophosphorus insecticides as methamidophos were totally banned as scheduled, and took place by high-active, safe, environment-friendly substitutes. Among them, the insecticide products accounted for 34.7%, decreased by 3.6%, while the fungicide accounted for 11.2%, up 3.5%, and herbicides was 33.7% of the total.

The product quality was of moderate increase. The quality measure up rate reached 98% by national supervision checking, that of large and medium enterprises remained 100%, among them avermectin and kasugamycin declaring to achieve “China Well-known Brand”.

The export pesticide products indicated continuous rising. The exported pesticide amount reached 288,000 tonnes, up 16.4%, and the exported pesticide value reached $1.21 billion, increased by 84.8%, and the favorable trade balance was $1.03 billion, up 98.5%.

The current problem is that price rising in raw materials, energy and transportation resulting in the growth of production cost, remained to be the main reason causing the funds shortage of enterprises. The total industry debts mounted up 17.6%, selling cost up 43.0%, management and financial affairs up 30.2% and 45.1% respectively in the first five months.