2015 Annual Review-Summary of 2015 Bio-stimulant and Its Future Prospects

According to forecast by several consultancy services, the global bio-stimulant market value may reach over $2 billion by 2020. Its compound annual growth rate would be at around 12% from 2013 to 2020. With the global close attention and public acceptance of the concept of the “agricultural sustainable development” and the “reduction of pesticide residue”, as well as the regulated industry policies by all countries, the promising market and future prospects of bio-stimulant has been well recognized by the whole industry.

2015 Bio-stimulant Dynamics

The European Bio-stimulant Industry Council (EBIC) is a main representational organization of the world’s bio-stimulant industry; business activities of its members represent the orientation of bio-stimulant industry. Up until 2015, there have been 50 members within EBIC, which include agrochemical giant such as BASF, Bayer CropScience, FMC and Monsanto. Bio-stimulant industry players now have included large pesticide and seed treatment companies. Furthermore, the merge and acquisition over the last 3 years have enhanced the centralization of the industry. For example, Valagro acquired Algea; Arysta acquired Goemar; Tradecorp acquired OGT; Biolchim acquired West Coast Marine Biotechnology; Verdesian acquired INTX Microbials and Plant Syence; Loveland acquired Agricen.

Fast growth has been achieved in global bio-stimulant market, which is primarily reflected by the following:

1)    Regional market grew extensively. For example, the Italian Valagro and Biolchim, who have actively extended their bio-stimulant marketing network from the conventional European and North American market to the emerging market such as South Africa, Asia and Africa; enterprises from emerging market like Biostadt India Limited and China’s Leili also set up overseas branches or agency sales to explore the conventional European and American market.
2)    Product research was speeded up. For example, in order to fulfill the special requirement of corn and wheat for coating agent, company like Koppert developed fungi Trichoderma sp, Endomycorrhiza, bacteria Bacillus sp, vitamins, fulvic acids and the new product Panoramix extracted from algae and vegetable oil, having attracted new customers.
3)    Target market scope was extended continuously. For example, China’s Leili managed to extend the scope of use of the Alga600 from the use for organic high-value fruit and vegetable to conventional field crops.
4)    Product price performance ratio was elevated. For example, Sipcam released bio-stimulant and fertilizer integrated solution, which enhances the price performance ratio of bio-stimulant, particularly enhances the adversity resistance property and crop quality at a premium. This overthrows the traditional view that high quality must end up in high price.
5)    Policy support was strengthened. For example, China and India provided tax reduction and subsidy policies for high-efficient and environment-friendly product, guided consumers to move into high-quality farm product market and encouraged farmers to make trial use of organic and environment-friendly product instead of synthetic chemicals and mineral fertilizer.

Since 2015 the following companies have tried to influence their target market via investment, expansion, cooperation, merger and acquisition; they have established or purchased sales channels in emerging market such as China and India. The inter-company research and marketing cooperation have promoted healthy and sustainable development of bio-stimulant industry. (Table 1)

Voice from Industry: Present Status and Future Opportunities of Bio-stimulant

As regards to the present bio-stimulant market situation, the CEO D. K. Chopra of Biostadt India Limited, took an interview of AgroPages, saying that “bio-stimulant has globally achieved fast growth over the last years, the driving factors for the fast growth include consumer’s growing demand for organic food, grower’s pressed need of new biological product to cope with the soil deterioration resulting from excessive use of fertilizer, more and more company’s commitment to supply of diversified bio-stimulant product or solutions.”

Speaking of restraint to the current bio-stimulant market development, the Asian Pacific Manager Bram Koppert of Koppert Biological Systems expressed that “in the past, growers always doubted about the efficacy of bio-stimulant product, this is because some products could not reach the advertised effect. Additionally conventional growers focused too much on crop pest control but ignored the adverse impact on crop yield and quality caused by abiotic stress factors (i.e. water stress, low temperature stress, soil nutrient deficiency stress). With the continued introduction of good-quality biological product into conventional market, more and more growers have started to feel the benefit of brand-new product and started to share the knowledge and experiences in applications of new product. Furthermore, some of the innovative growers have started to try different bio-stimulant product so as to realize the largest potentials of crop yield. The problem to growers is how to choose real effective and applicable product among large product varieties with different efficacy and action mode.”

Concerning future opportunities and challenges to bio-stimulant market, the global fertilizer CEO Secco Sandro of Sipcam said, “it is no doubt that bio-stimulant will be the orientation of plant nutrition development in the future because conventional fertilizer is limited only to solving the issue of crop nutrition demand, but bio-stimulant can stimulate and activate the overall physiological function of plant itself thus to enable plant to achieve better growth. Regarding the territory of market, developing countries including China will rise very quickly. Therefore Sipcam has formulated a 5-year plan for development of Chinese market, which aims to launch 3 bio-stimulant products each year starting from 2016 up to 2020.”

The CEO Gao Liyong of ITALPOLLINA China said, “opportunities of industry development is focused on emerging market. Bio-stimulant provides growers in emerging market with a new perception of crop nutrition, namely, to make a significant change of crop physiological health so as to enhance crop yield and quality. The challenge for the industry comes from the lack of unified acknowledgement of the definition, concept and action mechanism of bio-stimulant, where scientist, manufacturer and stakeholder hold different views. Also it takes time for emerging market to perceive and accept the concept and efficacy of bio-stimulant.”

The Asian Pacific Manager Bram Koppert of Koppert Biological Systems said, “the momentum for bio-stimulant development in the future will come from increase of global population and the increasing demand of human being for crop yield and quality. The common mission of Koppert and others is to promote a more positive development of the bio-stimulant industry, such that the bio-stimulant applications will become a normalized practice of modern agriculture. If stakeholders will fully consider the advantage of bio-stimulant being a substitute for chemical product and will formulate appropriate regulations, then there will be a more promising opportunity for the development of bio-stimulant industry”

Conclusion

In the years ahead, a healthy development of bio-stimulant industry will depend on if concept, function and mechanism of bio-stimulant are unified very soon, if policy-makers can formulate reasonable regulations in accordance with the result of scientific research and the regular pattern of industry development, if relevant enterprises can actively promote an orderly development of the industry under the framework of the bio-stimulant industry alliance, if the relevant enterprises can continually worked out environment-friendly and cost-effective product or crop solutions, if relevant enterprises can explore new market and help farmers to increase yield, quality and income toward the sustainable development of modern agriculture.





This article will be published in the magazine of 2015 Annual Review. If you want to know more themes and details, please click  the following picture:


Focus of this issue:
•    Exclusive interview of leading companies
•    Analysis of Industry Trends
•    Agro-Company Activities in 2015
•    Overview of registered and launched products in 2015
•    Analysis of Global Agricultural Biotech Industry in 2015
•    In Focus
       - Japan Agrochem Firms
       - Biopesticide
       - Biostimulant