Agricultural adjuvants market worth $4.7 billion by 2027

According to a new market research report published by Meticulous Research, the agricultural adjuvants market is expected to reach $4.7 billion by 2027, at a CAGR of 5.7% during the forecast period of 2020 to 2027. Also, in terms of volume, the agricultural adjuvants market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 7.3% from 2020 to 2027 to reach 440.1 KT by 2027.

Generally, agricultural adjuvants are secondary products that acts as a catalyst for agrochemicals and are usually used to improve efficiency and facilitate the functions of agrochemicals, such as herbicides, insecticides, fungicides, and other agents. Adjuvants also perform several functions, such as to enhance the wettability of the crop protection chemical and ensure its uniform spread on the leaves, increase penetration in case of systemic crop protection chemicals, and increase its compatibility with foliar fertilizer sprays, among others.

Impact of COVID-19 on the Agricultural Adjuvants Market

The agricultural adjuvants market continues to be challenged by the lockdowns, logistical disturbances, reduced productions, and associated economic impacts of Covid-19. The global chemical and agrochemical sector have been affected since the outset, primarily in the U.S. and China, the world's largest producers as well as consumers of agricultural adjuvants. Moreover, this pandemic also hit hard the agricultural adjuvants industry in Brazil, India and EU-5 countries. As a measure to control the spread of this disease and avoid related severe consequences, the governments on a global level have announced partial or complete lockdowns, which has majorly impacted many manufacturing and service industries, including crop protection chemicals and other additives industry.

As the COVID-19 crisis grows, the manufacturers are quickly changing their practice and purchasing priorities in order to meet the required demand of a pandemic. Over couple of months, this crisis has had a direct impact on the agricultural adjuvants development rates as the chemical manufacturing units in many countries have been disrupted, globally. Moreover, on a global level, as the governments shut down their national and international borders and economies for controlling the spread of the coronavirus, the businesses observed major impacts on their international trades. Many markets are focusing on fulfilling their requirements for fertilizers, pesticides, and agricultural adjuvants by domestic companies. This is, still, causing an imbalance between the demand and supply quantities. Some regions are completely or partially dependent on imports and are facing tough situations. Adjuvants are majorly dependent on raw materials such as vegetable oils and petroleum for their production. In addition, the turbulences in the regular supply chain have caused the companies to create new supply chains that are more expensive and takes a lot more time to satisfy the need for catalysts in different areas of the chemical industry. All these factors are hindering the growth of this market.

Based on function, the activator adjuvants segment is estimated to command the largest share of the overall agricultural adjuvants market in 2020. The segment is also expected to witness rapid growth during the forecast period. The largest share and the fastest growth of the activator adjuvants segment is mainly due to its high demand across the globe because of its ability to reduce surface tension to increase contact area as well as to rain fastness and increase solubilization and spray retention. Moreover, this global agricultural activator adjuvants market is further segmented into surfactants and oil adjuvants. 

The surfactants segment is estimated to command the dominant share of the overall agricultural activator adjuvants market in 2020, owing to the factors such as growing adoption of the precision farming practices, rising need to protect crops from insect pests and infectious diseases, and necessity to enhance the droplet retention characteristics of the pesticidal products because of the strict environmental regulations.

Based on application, the herbicide application segment is estimated to command the dominant share of the overall agricultural adjuvants market in 2020. This segment is also expected to witness rapid growth during the forecast period. The largest share and the fastest growth of this segment is primarily attributed to the huge demand for herbicidal products to protect the crop failure due to weeds and to increase the agricultural production across the globe. Moreover, the factors such as decreasing availability of labor and consequent rise in cost of the laborers as well as shortage of arable lands are also enhancing the demand for herbicidal products, globally. Additionally, the global acceptance of better agricultural practices as well as integrated pest management technologies are further anticipated to increase the use of adjuvants in herbicidal crop protection products.

Based on formulation, the suspension concentrate segment is estimated to command the dominant share of the overall agricultural adjuvants market in 2020, which is mainly attributed to its growing demand due to wide range of benefits such as absence of dust and small particle size of the active ingredients that minimizes the environment risks; ease of use; and high effectiveness.

Based on adoption stage, the tank mix segment is estimated to command the largest share of the overall agricultural adjuvants market in 2020. The large share of this segment is mainly attributed to its high adoption because of its capability to improve the compatibility and performance of agrochemicals on plant surfaces. However, the in-formulation segment is expected to grow with the fastest CAGR during the forecast period. The fast growth of this segment is primarily attributed to the growing consumer preference for agrochemicals, which have direct application on the crops and do not require any separate addition of chemicals.

Based on crop type, the cereals and grains segment is estimated to command the dominant share of the overall agricultural adjuvants market in 2020. The dominant position of this segment is mainly attributed to the growing demand for cereals and grains with rapidly growing population; huge area under cereals and grains cultivation worldwide; and increase in the demand for crop protection chemicals to protect cereals and grains crops from insect pests and infectious diseases, thereby subsequently increasing the demand for agricultural adjuvants.

Geographically, North America region is estimated to command the largest share of the global agricultural adjuvants market in 2020, followed by Asia Pacific and Europe. The major share of this region is mainly attributed to the factors such as continuous reduction in the arable land, rapidly growing population, and increase in demand for standard quality food. Moreover, the factors such as changing agricultural practices, shortages of the agricultural labors, increasing intensification including precision agriculture, high rate of adoption of advanced farming technologies, growing recognition of the environmental impact of agriculture, and growing interest in sustainable production systems are further expected to support the growth of this market in this region. However, the Asia Pacific region is projected to grow at a significant pace in the next few years. The fast growth of this region is mainly attributed to the factors such as rising demand for crop protection chemicals, presence of developing countries with vast agricultural lands, increasing demand for food crops and limited availability of arable land, increasing incidences of the pests, and growing consumer preference for environment-friendly agricultural adjuvants due to growing organic farming in Australia and other countries.