Anhui Huaxing to build 5,000t/a chlorpyrifos production line

Anhui Huaxing, one of the leading pesticide producers in China, plans to build a 5,000t/a chlorpyrifos technical production line in 2009 which is expected to be launched in 2010, driven by the prosperous market of chlorpyrifos.

Occupying an area of 58,000m2, the new chlorpyrifos production line will be built in the headquarters of Anhui Huaxing, situated in Chaohu City, Anhui Province. With a capacity of 5,000t/a chlorpyrifos, the total investment in this production line amounts to USD44.1 million, according to Ren Wenxiang, the director of this program.

Ren discloses that the production line has passed the environmental impact assessment by Anhui Environmental Protection Bureau in October 2008. It is expected to be launched in 2010, but the exact time is uncertain yet, due to the huge investment, long construction period and global economic recession.

This production line will adopt the new route of (TCP (2,3,5,6-tetrachloropyridine) →STCP (sodium 3,5,6-trichloropyridin-2-ol) → chlorpyrifos) to produce chlorpyrifos, which can lower the production cost remarkably compared with the conventional route of (SLYX (Trichloroactic chloride) → STCP (sodium 3,5,6-trichloropyridin-2-ol) → chlorpyrifos), according to Ren. As to the two key raw intermediates of chlorpyrifos, STCP and DEPCT (diethyl phosphorochloridothioate), will be purchased from domestic producers.

Anhui Huaxing has made a marketing strategy for chlorpyrifos products. After the launch of this production line, 1,300 tonnes of the total chlorpyrifos technical produced will be mainly exported to Indian and Pakistan and the other 3,700 tonnes will be processed into formulations independently (10,000t/a 25% chlorpyrifos EC, 10,000t/a 3% chlorpyrifos GR, and 2,000t/a chlorpyrifos HN 45%). These chlorpyrifos formulation will be mainly sold in the domestic market.

The rapid growth of chlorpyrifos demand since early 2008 is the key factor driving its production. As a highly effective and low-toxic pesticide, chlorpyrifos is recommended as the substitute for the five highly toxic pesticides by Chinese government, which has promoted its demand in China significantly.

Besides, the new route of chlorpyrifos gradually adopted in China since 2006 helps lower the production cost greatly compared with the conventional one, which is another factor driving more and more producers to be involved in chlorpyrifos production.

The following figure shows the price change of chlorpyrifos technical from 2004 to 2008. From the figure, it is shown that the price of chlorpyrifos had been decreasing from 2004 to 2007 with the decline in production cost for the growing application of new route.

However, the average price of chlorpyrifos has increased in 2008, due to the price hike of raw materials.

Anhui Huaxing’s net profit is predicted to exceed USD33 million this year, up over 230% year on year, primarily attributed to its growing sales, according to the Q3 Report of Anhui Huaxing.