Red Sun to deploy main chlorantraniliprole production line for next four years, commissions first phase of annual 2,000-ton capacity

Chlorantraniliprole is currently the hottest insecticide on the market, achieving the highest sales in every country. 

As a bisamide insecticide, chlorantraniliprole is the world’s fifth-generation novel insecticide for prioritized future development, as the product is ultra-efficient, has a broad-spectrum effect, has low toxicity and low pollution, and is environmentally-friendly, being referred to as a ″green sweeper.″ 

It is one of the five prime green pesticides advocated for development by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and is one of the five major products that support an initiative to ″reduce pesticide use and increase pesticide efficiency.″ In 2019, its global sale reached US$1.581 billion, ranking first in the insecticide market. Last year, its sale totaled US$1.78 billion, and global demand is expected to exceed 60,000 tons annually, with the sale value reaching US$3.3 billion.

Chlorantraniliprole is Red Sun’s leading product, representing another brilliant achievement for the company. With respect to the ″Chlorantraniliprole full process industry chain project,″ the people at Red Sun in Wanzhou have been working to progress the project’s implementation, reflecting their spirit of commitment.

In 2023, the staff of the Red Sun Wanzhou Production Center in China exerted concerted efforts to commission the company’s annual 2,000-ton chlorantraniliprole production line, which is estimated to bring a production value of more than RMB6.5 billion yuan to Red Sun and a profit of over RMB1.5 billion yuan by 2027.

2,3-Dichloropyridine is regarded as the ″chip″ of bisamide insecticides (Intermediate of chlorantraniliprole), which was not only invented and exclusively owned by Red Sun but is also the world’s only full process industry chain owned by Red Sun. 

Since 2014, Red Sun has been working over a decade on the research and development of the ″2,3-Dichloropyridine to chlorantraniliprole″ technical route, beginning from the source to the end-product, having built the world’s first full process industry chain based on bio-manufacturing, zero-carbon, independent and controllable complete chain operations. 

Currently, an annual 9,000-ton 2,3-Dichloropyridine capacity has been achieved. In the coming years, the global demand for 2,3-Dichloropyridine is expected to reach 40,000 to 50,000 tons, with the single product creating, for Red Sun, a production value of over RMB6.5 billion yuan and a profit of more than RMB1.5 billion yuan by 2027. 

Along with bisamide products, Red Sun’s total production value will approach RMB30 billion yuan, with an annual profit of over RMB10 billion yuan. The product will coexist with bisamide pesticides (chlorantraniliprole) to form a complete chlorantraniliprole industry chain completely controlled by Red Sun, which will have the advantage of total exclusivity.

After 10 years of research and screening, Red Sun’s technical team has developed an independent and proprietary synthesis process, which requires less investment, offers a low cost of production and is environmentally-friendly, placing it ahead of the world’s five major technical routes. Red Sun’s synthesis process offers the following six technical advantages: 

• An independent and complete pyridine base industry chain, which has the advantage of complete exclusivity.

• The advantage of the proprietary synthesis process of 2,3-Dichloropyridine.

• The key intermediate synthesis technology is ahead of those of domestic Chinese counterparts.

• The full process by-product recycling technique leads the industry.

• The proprietary process and technical advantage of the synthesis of chlorantraniliprole.

• Less investment, green production and circular economy advantages.

Chlorantraniliprole came off patent in August 2022. In the face of the foreseeable slowdown in market demand, the board chairman of Red Sun is personally planning the production capacity of chlorantraniliprole for the coming four years:

Red Sun’s Chlorantraniliprole Industry Chain Capacity Planning

According to the plan, in 2024, a Red Sun facility in Wanzhou Industrial Park will be completed, with a capacity of 2,000 tons of chlorantraniliprole. The first phase capacity of 2,000 tons has been completed and already operating at the end of August 2023, while a planned annual 60,000-ton capacity is scheduled for completion in 2027. 

As the star product ranking first among global insecticide varieties, chlorantraniliprole is expected to be the leading product of Red Sun, and even the entire Chinese pesticide industry, for the next 30 years. Today and in the future, Red Sun’s chlorantraniliprole industry chain is moving forward at a rapid pace, and one step ahead of others on the global market.