China’s 2022 Q1 pesticide export reveals decreased volume and increased value of 64%

According to China Customs statistics, from January to March 2022, China exported 532,500 tons of pesticides, down 8.79% year on year, at an export value of $2.834 billion, up 63.86% year on year; the average unit price increased by 79.73% year on year. 

From product category perspective, the export of herbicides is of the largest volume, which is 372,700 tons, down 0.12% year on year, at an export value of $2.068 billion, up 107.74% year on year. The main destinations of export of herbicides include Brazil, Australia, the United States, Nigeria, Ukraine and Russia; the next is insecticides, with a volume of 80,900 tons, down 3.7% year on year, at an export value of $418 million, up 16.21% year on year, The main destinations of export of insecticides include Brazil, Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam, Bangladesh and Peru. The last is fungicide, with a volume of 29,700 tons, down 6.32% year on year, at an export value of $221 million, up 21.34%. The main destinations of export of fungicides include Australia, Ukraine, Indonesia, Brazil, Vietnam and Kenya.

Since the worldwide outbreak of the COVID-19, food security has attracted the attention of all countries, where crop planting area is expanded and demand for pesticides is increasing. In addition, prices of raw material and other costs have increased, which drive the sharp price rise of global pesticide supplies since 2021. The price rising trend has slowed down in 2022, but industry experts predict that pesticide prices will still remain high for a period of 2 years.

Since Russia and Ukraine are both the world’s major grain producers and exporters, after the occurrence of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, Ukraine’s agricultural production is much affected while sanctions are imposed on Russia. It is expected that China’s export to the two countries may decline.