Briefing on Export of Pesticides from China in 2016

According to export statistics from ICAMA, between January and October 2016, China's total export volume of pesticides reached 1,099,800 tons and total export value amounted to US $4.512 billion, showing a decrease of 15 percent and 27 per cent, respectively, compared with the same period in 2015. 

 

Since 2015, the volume and value of China’s pesticide exports have been declining for two consecutive years, which is mainly due to factors such as the high inventory of distributors in many countries, the continuous low prices of main agricultural products, the strong United States (US) dollar and the frequent adverse weather. 

 

 

From January to October 2016, China's pesticide export market covered 159 countries and regions in the world. Among them, the top 30 countries and regions with the largest exports contributed 80.9 percent of the total exports, and 65.2 percent of the total value. Asia, in which China’s export volume and export value accounted for 33 percent and 31 percent, respectively, is China’s leading export market. The total pesticides exported to India, Vietnam, Indonesia, Thailand, Pakistan, Japan, Malaysia, Israel, Singapore, Turkey, Iran, South Korea and the Philippines amounted to 308,900 tons valued at $1.219 billion. South America was China's second largest export market with the total pesticides exported to Brazil, Argentina, Colombia, Uruguay, Paraguay and Chile at 237 thousand tons worth $1.018 billion. Among the above mentioned 30 countries, there were two countries (the United States and Mexico) in North America in which China’s pesticide export volume reached 101,700 tons with $599 million of export value, and four countries (Russia, Belgium, Ukraine and Italy) in Europe where China’s pesticide exports amounted to 57,800 tons worth $293 million. There was one country (Australia) in Oceania to which China’s pesticide export volume was 84,700 tons at $285 million, and four countries (Nigeria, Ghana, South Africa and Côte d'Ivoire) in Africa where China exported pesticides totaling 100,400 tons worth $240 million. 
 

Figure 1. The export volume (left) and value (right) of pesticides from China in different continents
 

Currently Asia, South America and Africa are the main destinations of China’s pesticide exports, and the total amount of pesticides that China exports to these three areas accounts for nearly 65 percent of China’s total pesticide export volume. Asia, especially Southeast Asia, will continue to be China’s major export market for pesticides due to the high proportion of agriculture, similar to China's crop cultivation and the relatively small market competition.

 

Seen from the pesticide export market, the top 10 countries in China's pesticide export market in 2016 were Brazil, the United States, Australia, Argentina, India, Vietnam, Indonesia, Thailand, Russia and Pakistan. The total pesticides exported to these 10 countries accounted for 55.2 percent of the total value worth $2.49 billion, which indicated that China's pesticide export market concentration rate was still high. 

 

But the situation in 2016 changed compared with that of 2015. In 2015, there were 22 countries to which China’s pesticide export value was over $100 million, while from January to October in 2016, there were only 10 countries with the pesticide export value of over $100 million among the top 30 countries. Apart from the sharp decline in overall sales, it also reflected that the concentration of China’s pesticide export had begun to loosen its grip. In addition, compared with the data of the same period in 2015, in these 10 countries, only Brazil’s pesticide import volume from China maintained a 7.47 percent growth in 2016, while the other 9 countries all had different degrees of decline, which meant China's pesticide export situation had become relatively grim. 

 

 

From January to October in 2016, China’s exported pesticide products contained more than 400 kinds of effective components, basically covering all the non-patented pesticides registered. Among them, the exports of glyphosate, paraquat, imidacloprid, chlorothalonil, atrazine, chlorpyrifos, Sulfentrazone, clethldim, acephate and carbendazim ranked in the top 10, whose export value was of $1.7 billion, accounting for 37.68 percent of the total pesticide export value, and whose export volume was 441,500 tons, accounting for 40.14 percent of the total pesticide export volume. This indicated that the concentration of China's export of pesticide species was still high, mainly concentrated in a number of large varieties. 

 

From January to October in 2016, there was a big difference in the pesticide varieties China exported to different countries. The pesticide with the largest import volume by Brazil, the United States, Australia, Argentina, Vietnam, Indonesia, Thailand and Russia from China was glyphosate, and the pesticide with the largest import volume by India and Pakistan was imidacloprid. Paraquat still ranked in the top three among the pesticides imported from China by Australia, Indonesia and Thailand.

Figure 4. List of Top 10 products by export value

 

On the whole, China's pesticide products were largely exported to many countries to good effect. Whether in the traditional Southeast Asian market, or the developed markets with high access conditions such as Europe and the United States, or the emerging markets of South America and Africa, the pesticides produced in China were still very visible. However, the situation does not look very optimistic for the next couple of years due to the impact of the overall economic downturn.

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