Flag Chemical’s new topramezone project soon to go into trial production

Anhui Ningyitai Technology Co., Ltd, a subsidiary of Chinese agrochemical company Jiangsu Flag Chemical, announced a few days ago that it will soon commission the new topramezone plant, and could begin trial production in October.

The commissioning of the plant signifies substantial advancement of Flag Chemical’s pesticide project series.

Flag Chemical chose a site within Anhui (Huaibei) New Coal Chemical Synthetic Material Base, having there established its subsidiary Anhui Ningyitai Technology Co., Ltd in July 2020, aiming to build a novel pesticide technical production base with an annual output of 15,500 tons. Topramezone is part of the project, with a designed annual capacity of 500 tons of topramezone.

Chemical structure of topramezone

Topramezone is the first phenylmethylpyrazolone herbicide, being an HPPD inhibitor. The product has now grown into the fourth-largest variety among the HPPD-inhibiting herbicides, having become a US$100 million-sale product.

Topramezone has the properties of high safety, great selectivity, broad herbicidal spectrum, long-lasting effect and high compatibility. In 2006, topramezone was launched to market, being mainly sold to the United States, China, and Argentina, but also to Hungary, Mexico, Indonesia, Belgium, Japan, Germany, Canada, Australia, Austria, Ukraine, Chile, Slovakia and the Netherlands, primarily for application to corn while being extended to grains including rice.

Although topramezone is being promoted and sold increasingly, in the long run, the promotion of GM corn in China will inevitably have an impact on the sale of Topramezone. In the years ahead, the Topramezone price is expected to remain stable with a slight decline.

Ningyitai Technology is about to complete the equipment installation, which is expected to be put into trial production in October, running with an advanced process and market competitiveness.

The project is of great help to further optimization of the company’s industrial layout, diversification of product structure, expansion of production capacity and opening up of a future source of growth. The project, including the topramezone capacity, is of great significance to the enhancement of Flag Chemicals’ economic benefit and long-term business operation.