Hidden Champion of Sulfonylurea Herbicide

 

Bu Kangming, the board chairman of Jiangsu Repont Pesticide Factory Co., Ltd.

 

As a hidden champion of sulfonylurea herbicide, China's Jiangsu Repont Pesticide Factory Co., Ltd. has made every effort to practice the business for 20 years. On the 11th January 2020, the Sulfonylurea Herbicide & Repont’s 20th Anniversary Development Forum was held in Changzhou, Jiangsu,  with the theme of “innovation energizing farming, technology enabling growth”. The forum was participated by industry administrations, experts and Repont’s partners of cooperation. At the forum, warm discussions took place on the present and future sulfonylurea herbicide industry development covering the research, production and marketing aspects.
 

Li Bin, Vice Chairman of China Petroleum and Chemical Industry Federation (CPCIF), delivered a speech at the forum. Li Bin says that Repont has presented a good example of focusing on segmented industry sector for establishment of a product variety to perfection. In the year of 2019, the market was difficult both at home and abroad, yet Repont could achieve a breakthrough sales of Yuan1.2 billion. The success of Repont provides small and medium companies with a good reference.
 

Li Bin, Vice Chairman of CPCIF
 

Li Zhonghua, Vice Chairman of China Crop Protection Industry Association (CCPIA), discussed with participants the general situation of Chinese pesticide industry in 2019 and the future trend of development. In 2019, the growth rate of Chines pesticide production was decreased due to strict work safety regulation and environmental compliance requirement. From January to November, Chinese pesticide production volume was 2.02 million tons. In 2018, 56 pesticide companies achieved sales of above Yuan1 billion; there were over 50 enterprises going public. The industry is faced with the problems of large number of manufacturers and smaller capacity, resulting in the lack of leading companies. Due to policy restraint, some pesticide and intermediate manufacturers appeared to move to west and northeast China. The main productions are currently concentrated on intermediates, whilst the production of pesticide technical to be resumed at a later date is expected to have an impact on the whole industry.
 

Li Zhonghua, CCPIA
 

Among the herbicide products, amino acid-based active ingredients take up largest share in global market, followed by sulfonylurea herbicide. The global sales of sulfonylurea herbicide in 2017 amounted to $2.385 billion, 1.2% up year on year, accounting for 9.2% of the total sales of herbicides, being a promising herbicide variety. However, over recent years it is also confronted by the issue of resistance.

 

Zhang Wenjun, the deputy chief agronomist of ICAMA, gave a briefing of the sulfonylurea herbicide industry. Although in 2018/2019, Chinese herbicide export declined, certain degree of growth of sulfonylurea herbicide export could still maintain. From January to November 2019, sulfonylurea herbicide export reached 11,600 tons amounting to $137 million, 1.35% up year on year. In 2018, sulfonylurea herbicide export covered full range of its varieties. The product variety with an export value of above $10 million included nicosulfuron, metsulfuron-methyl and tribenuron-methyl which altogether accounted for 64.9% of the total export value of the whole year. Lots of export varieties showed certain growth, which indicates potentials of development in the future.
 

Zhang Wenjun, the deputy chief agronomist of ICAMA
 

Repont is a leading company in sulfonylurea herbicide manufacture, registration and exportation. Repont currently holds 13 sulfonylurea herbicide technical registrations, of which tribenuron-methyl, pyrazosulfuron-ethyl, bensulfuron methyl, rimsulfuron and chlorimuron-ethyl take up 50% of the global market shares, while flazasulfuron, rimsulfuron, flucarbazone-sodium and chlorimuron-ethyl take up as high as 90% of market shares in Chinese domestic market. The product quality and brand image of Repont are strongly competitive in the international market.
 

The industry development of sulfonylurea herbicide is not always smooth, this kind of herbicide is of an action mode of ALS inhibition, which is being increasingly resisted by wheat field weeds. Wang Jinxin of Shandong Agriculture University says that the sulfonylurea herbicide currently applied to wheat field mainly include tribenuron-methyl, mesosulfuron and flucarbazone-sodium, which have been respectively resisted by weeds to certain degree. In addition, the resistance of weeds to ALS and ACCase herbicides are gradually spreading over. Though there is a resistance, sulfonylurea herbicide can get weeds stunted, which will control the further growth of weeds. Therefore, weed control in wheat field will still rely on this kind of product. As regards to product research and application, some counter measures can be taken to support the application of sulfonylurea herbicide, such as the use of non-cross resistance or weak resistance herbicide, mixed use or alternative use of herbicide, change of conventional application method, research of replacement agent and selection of effective adjuvant.

 

The high activity of sulfonylurea herbicide makes a lot of manufacturers nervous to stay away from manufacturing while Repont stays focused on this industry sector and has endeavored to conduct the HSE practice over the last 20 years, having established a complete set of effective production management system which could effectively control the cross contamination in the course of production process. In the last 20 years, there has not been a single case of complaint on the occurrence of cross contamination caused by sulfonylurea herbicide

 

At the dinner party, board chairman Bu Kangming gave a speech which summarizes the business history of Repont and shares the successful experience over the last 20 years, saying that “we are working on our Sulfonylurea Herbicide-Centric and Pesticide Industry-Focused Development Strategy, we are committed to becoming China’s benchmark pesticide enterprise; in the next 20 years the brand of Repont will be cultivated into an international brand fully trusted by customers.”

Bu Kangming,  the board chairman of Jiangsu Repont  Pesticide Factory Co., Ltd.