Value of agrochemical shipments down 1.9% in Japan, reversing trend

The Japan Crop Protection Association reported that the value of agrochemical shipments in the 2010 pesticide year, running from October 2009 to September 2010, amounted to 324.5 bn yen ($3.9 bn), down 1.9% year on year for the first drop in three years, while the shipment volume was 194,227 tons, down 6.1%.

The shipment value for the paddy-field application category was 118.3 bn yen, up 0.2%, consisting of 13.3 bn yen for insecticides, down 7.5%; 12.3 b yen for fungicides, down 0.1%; 31 bn yen for insecticides/fungicides, down 1.4%; and 61.7 bn yen for herbicides, up 3.0%.

The shipment value for the fruit-tree category was 48.52 bn yen, down 6.5%, consisting of 22.5 bn yen for pesticides, down 5.7%; 18.686 bn yen for fungicides, down 6.4%; 276 mn yen for insecticides/fungicides, an expansion of 6.1 times, and 7 bn yen for herbicides, down 12.2%.

The shipment value for the category of vegetables and upland farms was 116.6 bn yen, down 0.9%, consisting of 56.5 bn yen for insecticides, up 0.5%, 38.8 bn yen for fungicides, up 0.8%; 2.2 bn yen for insecticides/fungicides, up 18.3%; and 19.1 bn yen for herbicides, down 9.7%.

The shipment value for the “other” category, including non-farming, forestry, fields, turfs, golfcourses and home gardening, was 30.2 bn yen, down 5.8%, and that for the "unclassified” category, including plant-growth regulators, redenticides, adjuvants andbiological pesticides, was 11 bn yen, down 3.2%.

Shipment volumes were 72,335 tons for the paddy-field category, down 4.7%; 19,130 tons for fruit trees, down 7.6%; 81,994 tons for vegetables and upland farms, down 6.1%; 15,158 tons for others, down 11.7%; and 5,610 tons for unclassified, down 1.0%. Decreased demand in general combined with the diffusion of agrochemical with high efficacy and low usage volumes dragged down the figures.