Haifa, Nutrien, Kingenta and New Yonfer Fertilizer’s views on the biostimulant industry and market

Comparing the global crop protection market (approximately US$60 billion), with the crop seeds and biological technology (US$45 billion), fertilizers (US$156 billion) take the largest percentage in the whole agri-inputs market.

However, keeping the environmental impact in mind, it has been asked to reduce the carbon footprint during fertilizer production and increase the efficiency of the application. This has resulted in the increasing traditional fertilizer companies invent biological technology and digital tools in the non-traditional territory. The rapidly increasing market of biostimulants, with fertilizer giants getting involved in this sector, is witness to that. AgroPages interviewed four fertilizer companies for their attitudes and strategic layout on biostimulants, they are:

- Casey McDaniel, Managing Director at Loveland Products & Actagro (subsidiary of NUTRIEN)

- Natan Feldman, VP Marketing, Business Development & Innovation at HAIFA GROUP

- Jidong Zhai, Vice president at KINGENTA

- Yanfeng Wang, Vice president at NEW YONFER

Could you introduce your product line and the plan? The opportunities and challenges in popularizing biostimulant products?

NEW YONFER: As an industry leader, NEW YONFER started product innovation 10 years ago, that was the time when we began cooperating with Zhang Fusuo, a Chinese academician from the China Agricultural University and experts from the national nutrient management network. We have jointly set up the Novel Fertilizer Research Center specializing in the research and development of novel fertilizers such as soil-targeted and crop-oriented special fertilizers. Till now, NEW YONFER’s crop-oriented special fertilizers account for 75% or above, which is far higher than the average industry level. This has played a solid foundation backing up NEW YONFER’s industry-leading position in crop-oriented special fertilizers, to lead the way for the compound fertilizer to shift from general use to special use.

In the past five years (China’s 13th Five-Year Plan period), NEW YONFER has continually increased its R&D inputs, accelerated the process of product innovation, upgraded novel fertilizer innovation facilities, being the first to complete the novel fertilizer variety expansion and function increase. The product portfolio of novel fertilizers has been systematically optimized and upgraded to meet the market demand for product diversity, which further increases the proportion of novel fertilizer applications.

Since 2017, NEW YONFER has cooperated with COMPO EXPERT in a comprehensive and in-depth manner covering technology transfer, localized manufacturing and brand integration in the fields of high-quality compound fertilizer development as well as the launch of the new compound fertilizer brand - NovaTec^® with remarkable results being achieved; NEW YONFER has cooperated with biological companies including Qinhuangdao Leading Bio-Agri, Fujian Mata, Sugon, Nanjing Shineking and US Biowish in biostimulant and functional product development and promotions, having built up NEW YONFER’s BAIBENGBANG prime single product brand fertilizer product.

In 2018, NEW YONFER and China Agricultural University jointly launched a crop-specific fertilizer lab as approved by the Chinese Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs. Through the operation of the lab, product technology and agronomic technology are further integrated, which has facilitated the development of a special fertilizer product series that enable higher nutrient utilization, high yield and quality upgrading as well as soil improvement, providing guidance to the fertilizer industry to extend from the standalone market orientation towards technology-driven integrated development. This provides a technical backup for the upgrading of the fertilizer industry and the sustainable development of agriculture.

In the years ahead, NEW YONFER will continue to increase its independent R&D efforts, adhere to the green development idea, targets at the international level, boost product innovation at a high level and strive to construct a scientific and technological sustaining platform as well as a disruptive innovation platform as driven by the market, with international vision, such that the company can build up its sustainable competitiveness in a higher dimension.

The opportunities to the company in the process of research and promotion of novel fertilizers will be from 1) the acceptance of novel fertilizers in the Chinese agrochemical market has reached a high level, which gives manufacturers the benefit of fewer inputs on market education; 2) the state’s supervision and regulation of the fertilizer market are constantly improving, which is conducive to standardized and well-regulated market development and healthy competition among enterprises; 3) the gap between Chinese industry and the world is further narrowed in respect of novel fertilizer original innovation, technology and talent pool development, which may enable Chinese industry to possibly surpass the world’s industry level in some fields. This will be of help to Chinese manufacturer’s independent innovation, improvement of innovation efficiency and quality, as well as the introduction of professional talents.

The main challenges are 1) the homogenization of novel fertilizers currently on the current market is quite serious, it is still difficult to achieve a substantial breakthrough in the short run, which requires time and investment; 2) how to resolve the conflict between the major single novel fertilizer and the individualized novel fertilizer is a test of a manufacturer’s capability, management and wisdom.

As regards biostimulants in the Chinese market, the widespread application of this kind of single product may not be very promising in the short term. More importantly, biostimulants have been considered a synergistic factor to be integrated with mainstream products for promotion and application. In the eyes of large enterprises, the benefit is that biostimulants can be used as both a synergist for integration with mainstream products and be used as a single product, or even a complimentary item. This will play a role in flexible uses and promotions of quick product releases via proper sales channel.

KINGENTA: Over the last 20 years, relying on the advantage of the national-level fertilizer R&D center within our company, KINGENTA has spent a lot of manpower, material and financial resource on research and development of novel products. Efforts have been made on research programs covering nitrogen emission reduction, phosphorus efficiency enhancement, integration of pesticide and fertilizer, soil improvement and product quality upgrade, resulting in several outstanding R&D achievements, such as humic acid, seaweed extracts and chitosan oligosaccharide, which are part of the company’s key research results. The products under these research programs have been released one after another to the market in recent years, with great success.

KINGENTA has built a large-scale production line, which mainly produces mineral humic acid and microparticle fulvic acids. The company’s series of biostimulants such as high active alginic acids and chitosan oligosaccharides extracted from imported high-quality seaweed and shrimp shell is widely accepted and welcomed by the market. In terms of product promotion and application, KINGENTA has fully utilized its advantages of professional production and promotion team to promote and produce widely-used water-soluble fertilizer, liquid fertilizer and foliar fertilizer in combination with each other, using biostimulants as raw materials. Biostimulants are also used as raw material to upgrade ordinary granular NPK compound fertilizers, which has been quite successful on the market. As a novel fertilizer, biostimulants are well-recognized and accepted by the majority of farmers, for whom a professional technical service is required, which has proved to be a challenge to biostimulant manufacturers. At the same time, biostimulants improve the quality of agricultural products, enhance the nutrient utilization of macro-element fertilizer and improve the soil condition to contribute to the government’s requirement of “reduction of fertilizer and increase of efficiency.” Biostimulants are expected to play a more important role, which will provide great market opportunities in the future.

HAIFA: As an international company that stands at the forefront of the plant nutrition industry and committed to the success of farmers worldwide, we study and develop innovative solutions continuously. Global climate change creates a lot of extreme situations which we have not witnessed in the past and poses new challenges to growers. We have introduced HaifaStim™, our line of biostimulants, with the understanding that these nutritional supplements can help growers to produce successful yield under stress situations. Along with our nutritional products, efficient application methods, knowledge, and technology, HaifaStim™ products complete whole 360° plant nutrition solutions for our customers.

In the first stage, we launched seven premium products that combat various stresses, as implied by their names. For instance, HaifaStim™ VIGOR facilitates nutrient uptake and assimilation; HaifaStim™ FORCE balances energy storage and transfer in the plant, and so on. The HaifaStim™ range also includes the Haifa Poly-Feed™ Stim range of our well known soluble NPK fertilizers Poly-Feed enriched with biostimulants. Haifa's biostimulant products improve various aspects of plant development and the growth environment, thus enabling farmers to grow crops more efficiently. e.g, HaifaStim™ Vigor is designed to enhance nutrient uptake and use efficiency.

Just like any agricultural input, the action of the products requires optimal usage – proper choice of product, and correct application of the precise dose at precise timing. Upon the introduction of the new range Haifa has developed general usage guidelines, and the main challenge now is to study specific cases in order to fine-tune the instructions and to come up with customized recommendations for particular cases. Haifa's thorough knowledge and experienced teams worldwide provide excellent basis to develop comprehensive guidelines for the application of our biostimulants.

A great opportunity for our biostimulant products lays in the great synergism between biostimulants and mineral fertilizers: while the fertilizers provide the nutrition that intensive crop production requires, the biostimulants allow the crop to reach its growth potential with better uptake. The combination of Haifa's plant nutrients and HaifaStim™ (or Haifa Poly-Feed™ Stim products) creates fully integrated plant nutrition that meets the constantly rising needs of modern agriculture. 

NUTRIEN: Nutrien is the world's largest provider of crop inputs and services, playing a critical role in helping growers sustainably increase food production. Our retail operations, Nutrien Ag Solutions, serve growers in seven countries across three continents, with a history that goes back almost 50 years. Our size and scale, combined with our commitment to innovation and technology, allow us to provide growers with the best products, advice and solutions to maximize yields and improve their bottom line. We see a very clear difference between fertilizer and biostimulants, but also recognize they can be mutually beneficial when applied together. Through Loveland Products, a proprietary product line of Nutrien Ag Solutions, the company has taken a leadership position in the biostimulant space and continues to innovate our portfolio.

Could you introduce your global markets? In your biggest market is there any market difference between fertilizers and biostimulants?

NEW YONFER: The major market of NEW YONFER is China and South East Asia. Biostimulants in China is in the scope of the Novel Fertilizer. Novel fertilizer is a broad, extensive and dynamic concept. Each individual has a different understanding of it, being positioned differently by different people. There are differences in its market characteristics. In general, the characteristics of the Chinese novel fertilizer market may be summarized as follows:

1. High-growing, with great potential. The Chinese novel fertilizer market has sustained double-digit high-speed growth in the past ten years, which I believe will not go down in the next ten years but will continue with better performance, attributable to the huge potential of China's economic development, as driven by the strong promotion and support by the government’s initiatives of rural revitalization, agricultural modernization, green and sustainable development of agriculture, as well as the advantage and competitiveness of the Chinese manufacturing industry. In a word, not only in the past but today, also for a long time to come, I believe that the Chinese novel fertilizer market will be undoubtedly one of the world’s best and fastest-growing markets with the greatest potential.

2. Fierce competition and chaotic market: The competitiveness and profitability of novel fertilizers are much higher than conventional products. Motivated by profitability, the market competition is going to be extremely fierce, where various means of competition will emerge endlessly, which will lead to vicious competition like an occurrence of a price war. Due to the specialty and particularity of the novel fertilizer, it is difficult for governments to very effectively supervise and regulate the market, thus the situation of market chaos will persist.

3. Serious homogenization and difficulty in technical breakthrough: In the past 50 years, there have been no revolutionary technical breakthroughs in China or even in the world. The logic of enterprises has been to sell nutrients, sell technologies and now to sell functions, where the level of market operation and marketing ability need to be improved. In essence, what is done is more like a sort of function integration, or doing a simple mathematical calculation such as “addition, subtraction, multiplication and division”, which has led to more and more serious homogenization of development of the novel fertilizer. In this case, low-level competition is inevitable. I believe that enterprises all over the world are concerned and are looking forward to the emergence of revolutionary technological breakthroughs. Whosoever can make available such technology will win over the competition in the future.

KINGENTA: KINGENTA’s global market consists of two parts: one is the acquired market through capital investment while the other is the market expansion through the establishment of our affiliates. Over the past 10 years, KINGENTA has expanded its international market through investment and the establishment of affiliates, having promoted products to cover six continents across more than 80 countries. KINGENTA’s two largest overseas regional markets are Southeast Asia and Europe, where water-soluble fertilizers are dominant products, whilst biostimulant promotion is just the beginning. Compared with the overseas market, the fertilizer market in China is relatively more active with more fierce competition, and people are more open to novel products. Therefore, there is a bigger opportunity and market space in China for novel fertilizer products such as biostimulants.

HAIFA: Haifa Group is a leading global supplier of specialty plant nutrients for advanced agriculture. We have 16 subsidiaries worldwide, that operates in more than 100 countries across five continents. To expand into new markets, Haifa opened three subsidiaries in the last years, in China, Turkey, and Colombia. 

In Southern Europe (Spain, France, Italy, Balkan countries, and Greece) Haifa distributes biostimulant-based products since the mid-1980s. This acquainted us with various biostimulant solutions, along with application experience. Thanks to initiatives of local teams, Haifa Group has gathered experience with biostimulants in south Europe. We now take advantage of this experience, including promotion and regulatory issues. Some 120 front warehouses worldwide allow us to ensure product availability and support logistical needs when expanding our activity to other parts of the world.

Now, with the launching of HaifaStim™, biostimulants have become an integral part of our portfolio and are available in all our markets.

NUTRIEN: NUTRIEN is the world's largest provider of crop inputs and services, playing a critical role in helping growers sustainably increase food production. Our retail operations, Nutrien Ag Solutions, serve growers in seven countries across three continents, with a history that goes back nearly 50 years. Our size and scale, combined with our commitment to innovation and technology, allow us to provide growers with the best products, advice and solutions to maximize yields and improve their bottom line. We see a very clear difference between fertilizer and biostimulants, but also recognize they can be mutually beneficial when applied together. Through Loveland Products, a proprietary product line of Nutrien Ag Solutions, the company has taken a leadership position in the biostimulant space and continues to innovate our portfolio.

As a fertilizer giant, what are your attitudes towards chemical fertilizer and chemical pesticide multinationals joining the biostimulant industry?

NEW YONFER: First of all, we consider this is an inevitable happening in the development of the industry, business competition and product innovation, which is normal. Secondly, why is biostimulant attractive? The main reason is that the negative effect of environmental stress on crop production is becoming more and more serious. In the past, when crops grew in a better environment, what was needed was just to provide nutrients. However, under the stress, the absorption, utilization and metabolism of nutrients would encounter problems, which had to be effectively controlled and regulated, for which there were long-term and systematic solutions, as well as short-term measures. Biostimulants are one of the practical and effective solutions that farmers can feel in person. It is relatively easy to materialize the control measure with biostimulants for them to affect crops, resulting in the rapid development of the product on the market. Finally, I hold the view that biostimulants are still a niche market, which will not replace nutrients. Its fundamental function is to help us to better understand farming from the perspective of life science, and hence to establish a more scientific and rational product concept.

KINGENTA: The biostimulant market is a blue pecan compared with the conventional fertilizer market. The presence of global fertilizer and pesticide giants in the blue ocean one after another is a good try and a choice of the times for the conventional fertilizer industry to switch to novel fertilizers, which is transforming and upgrading. A biostimulant and conventional fertilizer supplement each other, and not exclude each other. It is the same market closely linked together, not two markets that are separated from each other. Biostimulant can be used for direct marketing development, and more importantly, can be combined with conventional fertilizers to improve the nutrient efficiency of conventional fertilizers, thus helping to achieve upgrading of conventional fertilizers.

HAIFA: Biostimulants comprise a relatively new area of activity for Haifa, which is anticipated to grow faster than our general activity.

The penetration of large, well established companies such as Haifa in the biostimulants market is very important, and we anticipate that it will take the market a huge step forward. With our knowledge, experience, R&D, and not of least importance, logistical capabilities and economic stability, only the large plant nutrition companies can turn biostimulants from niche products into an essential component of the 21st-century farming practices. 

NUTRIEN: Nutrien Ag Solutions believes any technology that provides benefits to both grower customers and the environment is positive, regardless of who introduces the technology. Our commitment to innovation and technology through our research and development or partnerships with supply partners allows Nutrien Ag Solutions to provide the best solutions to maximize yield. Nutrien Ag Solutions has made large investments in this space and will continue to lead with novel BioSolutions.

Will your firm further acquire some companies to complete your product line as other companies do in this industry?

NEW YONFER: NEW YONFER does not rule out involvement in the biostimulant field via acquisition in the future, but it will not be the only way, because the ways of cooperation should be diversified. We are more concerned about whether a win-win result can be achieved through cooperation, whether a new source of growth can be created and whether capability can be enhanced.

In the past, during our exchange and cooperation with some overseas companies, our experience and feeling are that at present the vast majority of foreign-invested enterprises still hold the opinion like the opinion they held in the past regarding the Chinese market and Chinese enterprises. What they do now is still to set up a simple marketing office in China, relying on a corporate name, brand and authorization to bring in imported products to the Chinese market. This way of doing business to make earnings is outdated and the business model has gone, as its operation efficiency, cost control, market penetration and resource consolidation are all ineffective, being not competitive on the market. This way of doing business would not be able to sustain the business objectives of foreign-invested companies. If adjustments are not made quickly to adapt to the changes of the times and match the Chinese market features, the market share of foreign-invested companies in the Chinese market will be worrying. To this end, I suggest foreign-invested companies refer to NEW YONFER’s model of cooperation with COMPO EXPERT.

KINGENTA: In the past five years, affected by the global economy, national policies and the fertilizer industry development, KINGENTA’s overseas merger and acquisition process, as well as business expansion, have stabilized. Summing up the experience in a cross-border merger and acquisition as well as international market development, we believe that economic globalization is a major trend of world economic development, where international competition may take place in the domestic market while domestic competition may become international. This will become a normal state. It will be a strategic choice of enterprises to consolidate international resources to strengthen corporate competitiveness and endeavor to expand the international market. Optimization of worldwide business operations makes two important achievements: (1) dual-circulation of domestic and international markets backed up by the two markets; (2) synergy effect from the integration of international technology and product development in association with the strong domestic manufacturing capacity and agile management; (3) global resource sharing, which increases the efficiency of resource utilization and enhances the competitiveness of enterprises; (4) avoidance of tax and technical barriers, expansion of development potential to gain a competitive advantage. 

HAIFA: In the future, we shall add more products to the HaifaStim™ line, addressing particular crops and specific situations. Nevertheless, we are seeking joint ventures and willing to invest in new technologies to develop innovative solutions that will help farmers to grow better crops and to face the challenges of climate changes, depleting resources, and others. Haifa intends to diverse its range of biostimulants, in order to introduce products that will address very specific growth situation, and also products with unique activities. These days Haifa's R&D teams are working on the development of innovative biostimulants, based on special plant extracts, and we anticipate launching in the near future. We also test some other new technologies and shall update our business partners and customers as soon as they will ripe.

NUTRIEN: Agrichem, one of our brands acquired in 2018, is synonymous with innovation, technology and quality in the field of high concentration liquid fertilizers and the nutritional management of key crop segments in Brazil. Agrichem brings together a complete line of products that features high formulation technologies, maximum application security and superior yield to increase end-to-end agricultural quality and productivity, thus innovating performance in the following functions: expertise in high concentration formulations; nutrition via seeds; defense induction in plants; nutritional diagnostic tool; complementary nitrogen; injection of fertilizers into the furrow. 

This acquisition and others around the world have allowed us to lead with innovation. Nutrien Ag Solutions has aggressive commitments around enabling sustainable acres, achieving emissions reduction, and leveraging innovation. Our BioSolutions portfolio will be a very important tool in achieving these goals.

This interview was originally published in the magazine 2021 Biologicals Special. 

Click the picture below to download the magazine and find more reports on biopesticides, biostimulants and biofertilizers.