AgroPages-2019 TOP 20 Philippine Agrochemical Importers: multinationals, locals, Chinese and Indians each capturing one-third of market-Agricultural news

Yutian Lu

Project managers of Biologicals; Editors

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According to FAO statistics, Philippines’ total agrochemicals import value from 2011 to 2017 increased from $194 million up to $360 million, reaching an annual growth rate of 14%. Among them, the import of insecticide is of the largest proportion, followed by the fast-growing fungicide, whilst import of herbicide was doubled over 2016. According to the latest publication of the 《2019 Philippine Agrochemicals Import Analysis》, from January to October 2019 Philippines’ total accumulated import of agrochemicals hit $306 million.

Based on the 《2019 Philippine Agrochemicals Import Analysis》, AgroPages published its exclusive 2019 Top 20 Philippine Agrochemical Importers. Of the total 330 importers, the top 20 accounted for 73.1% of the total import value while the top 6 took up half of the total.

Table 1: 2019 Top 20 Philippine Agrochemical Importers

No.	IMPORTER	IMPORT VALUE USD（CIF）
1	SYNGENTA PHILIPPINES INC.	38047875
2	BAYER CROPSCIENCE INC.	33448408
3	S.C. JOHNSON & SON INC.	21849686
4	FMC AGRO PHILIPPINES INC	13262519
5	ZUELLIG PHARMA CORPORATION	12468072
6	LEADS AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS CORP.	11792985
7	UPL PHILIPPINES INC.	10074881
8	WU KONG SINGAPORE PTE. LTD. PHIL.	7816853
9	BASF PHILIPPINES INC	7662463
10	ALDIZ INCORPORATED	7450134
11	JARDINE DISTRIBUTION INC.	6356057
12	DOW AGROSCIENCES B.V. PHILIPPINES	5930940
13	AGCHEM MANUFACTURING CORP	5851344
14	C.B. ANDREW ASIA INC	5535387
15	SINOCHEM CROP PROTECTION PHIL INC	5100184
16	AGWAY CHEMICALS CORPORATION	5057474
17	DU PONT FAR EAST INC.	4521153
18	AVC CHEMICAL CORPORATION	3453063
19	PHILNUTRI CORPORATION	3001556
20	JOCANIMA CORPORATION	2976286

The top 20 included the top 6 multinationals in the local country, being Syngenta, Bayer, FMC, BASF, Dow and DuPont, which respectively ranked the first, second, fourth, ninth, 12th and 17th. Among the large number of Indian companies that have registered for business operations in the Philippines, India UPL is the only one becoming listed on the top 20, ranking the seventh place.

In recent years, Chinese enterprises have also made their business deployment in the Philippine market. Zhejiang Xinnong have been awarded two invention patents in the Philippines; Suli and Hailir have each invested approximately $200,000 in setting up a subsidiary in the Philippines; A Sino Philippine formulations joint venture in the Philippines which was launched by Jiangsu Jadesheen has been brought on stream. Sinochem International Crop Care (Philippines) Ltd is a representational Chinese company listed on the top 20, ranking the 15th place.

Johnson, the third place-ranked company, mainly imported insect aerosol; the fifth place-ranked Zuellig Pharma mainly imported hygienic disinfectant; and the eighth place-ranked Wu Kong Singapore imported wood preservatives. The cumulative import volume of these three companies accounted for 15% of the total.

The sixth place-ranked Leads Agricultural Products Crop, which is the largest local agrochemical trader in the Philippines, mainly made purchases from China (other three sources of supply being Malaysia, Korea and Indonesia). On average, the company makes purchases from the same exporter every month. In addition, the company's volume of import of insect aerosol (KGS) is only next to Johnson & Johnson, ranking the second place.

The 10th place-ranked local importer Aldiz Incorporated owns registrations in its own brand name, being a member of CropLife Philippines just like multinationals. The company employs up to 50 staffs.

Half of the imported agrochemicals was supplied from China, Indonesia and India

Additionally according to the 《2019 Philippine Agrochemicals Import Analysis》, half of the value of imported agrochemicals to the Philippines was supplied from China, Indonesia and India, followed by supplies from Thailand, Malaysia and South Korea, showing that the Philippine market has its favor for supplies from Asian countries, since the share of supplies from European and America is not high.

The business performance of multinationals in Southeast Asia appears more like a kind of business transfer, like Bayer Indonesia's massive export of its fungicide Antracol to Bayer Philippines.

In recent years, Korean agrochemical enterprises have intensified their business presence in the Philippine market. Back in 2014, the No.1 Korean agrochemical company Farmhannong launched several major herbicide products to the Philippine market. Moreover, what are exported by Korean companies to Philippine market are banana spray additives. Information reveals that Korea's export volume to the Philippines accounted for 8% of the total import market, ranking the sixth place in value.

On the other side, business data of October shows that Argentina becomes the third largest export country, for which specific reasons, export companies and product varieties are worthy of attention and analysis.

Figure 1: Territory of Export Country (in value and quantity)