China's Hebang to build the world's largest plant for PMIDA, intermediate of glyphosate

Chinese chemicals manufacturer Hebang Biotechnology intends to invest CNY12.5 billion (USD2 billion) to build the world's biggest production base for the main raw material of a popular herbicide amid rising product prices.

Hebang has penned an agreement with the municipal government of southwestern China's Guang'an to construct the base to make N-Phosphonomethyl aminodiacetic acid which is used to produce glyphosate, the world's largest PMIDA supplier said in a statement.

The plant should involve an annual capacity of 500,000 tons of PMIDA, the Sichuan province-based firm added. Construction should take 24 months.

Prices of the weed killer have surged in China after some outdated production facilities failed to meet tightening environmental protection standards. Currently, the price of glyphosate is CNY63,200 (USD9,905) per ton, more than double that of early 2021.

The market price of PMIDA was about CNY42,000 per ton in March, rising almost three times from a year ago, according to a research report by Kaiyuan Securities.

Hebang has an annual capacity of 150,000 tons of PMIDA and 50,000 tons of glyphosate, according to its website. Some of the former product is used by the producer itself.

The firm has been recording impressive sales. In 2021, revenue jumped 88 percent to CNY9.9 billion (USD1.6 billion) from 2020, driven by PMIDA and glyphosate products that made up more than half of the total sum, according to Hebang's performance brief. Its net profit grew more than eight times to CNY3 billion.