Feature: In Off-patent product, ″Chinese agrochemical industry goes global″ (PART 1)

This article is initially published in 2024 China Pesticide Industry Watch magaznie , click to downlowd 

During the global agrochemical industry’s rapid development In the past decades, multinationals have dominated the world’s major agrochemical markets, relying on their patented pesticidal active ingredients. 

However, when active ingredients come off-patent, generic pesticide manufacturers always rush to seize the respective market.

Off-patent pesticides provide numerous generic pesticide manufacturers with broad development prospects. However, with the slowdown in the release of novel pesticides in recent years, the off-patent pesticide market competition has become increasingly intense. Moreover, with the first-mover advantage in most cases, apart from compound patents, most original manufacturers/research institutions have set limitations much earlier to the production process, key intermediate, formulation, mixture, and applications. Hence, off-patented pesticide manufacturers have to wait for all patents to expire, or they have to develop new process routes with independent intellectual property rights to manufacture generic products.

The Chinese agrochemical industry has made significant progress in off-patent pesticide production, taking up the last round of capacity transfer and customized manufacture left over by multinational companies. 

This shows that the leading enterprises in the Chinese agrochemical industry have been advancing on a large scale, taking the production output of the Chinese agrochemical industry to a new high. In the manufacture and supply of off-patent products and mass production based on independent research and development, China has a distinctive capacity advantage. Also, with respect to specific varieties such as prothioconazole and chlorantraniliprole, a complete industry chain has been built up with the Chinese pesticide industry.

In the following, AgroPages sorted 105 global off-patent pesticide varieties in 2009-2023, using three specific products, prothioconazole, s-metolachlor, and emamectin benzoate as examples, to give a systematical presentation of the industry development and the production layout of off-patent pesticides in China. 

A summary of 2009-2023 off-patent compounds and industry development in China

According to incomplete statistics from AgroPages, a total of 105 worldwide pesticidal ingredient patents came off-patent in 2009 - 2023, including 36 herbicides, 40 fungicides, 22 insecticides, and 7 acaricides（Fig1）.

40 pesticidal ingredients coming off-patent in 2009 - 2014

According to statistics, 40 pesticide varieties came off-patent in 2009 - 2014 (Table 1), including isoxaflutole, azoxystrobin, emamectin benzoate, acetamiprid, dinotefuran, and indoxacarb, which used to be global top 20 market-value varieties in 2021. 

As a blockbuster off-patent product for use in corn and sugarcane fields, isoxaflutole has attracted market development by many Chinese enterprises. Flagchem, Nutrichem, and Jiangsu Institute of Hormone have obtained registration of isoxaflutole technical and formulations in China, among which Flagchem has patents of isoxaflutole and its key intermediates. The company has built and operated its annual 1,000-ton isoxaflutole technical production line. 

Azoxystrobin is a blockbuster product which tops the ranking of fungicides. After its patent expiration in recent years, more and more azoxystrobin products have been developed and registered in China. Hence, the prices of azoxystrobin products have been much lower than before. Up to now, registration has been granted to 72 technical materials and 315 mixtures, with the scope of application covering a large variety of crops, mostly soy, cereal and rice. 

Emamectin benzoate is a biological insecticide. China is the main producer and supplier of emamectin benzoate. Qilu Pharmaceutical and Xingbai Group are the leading suppliers in China, supported by their integrated upstream and downstream emamectin benzoate industry chain. Currently, the Chinese domestic market consumes 1/3 of the production output in China while the majority is exported to Brazil, India, and Southeast Asia. 

Acetamiprid is a crucial product variety of nicotinoid insecticides, production of which is being expanded by Hailir, Sino Agri Union, Changqing Agrochemical, and Dongwu Agrochemical over the last two years via the launch of a new capacity of 29,520 tons, according to incomplete statistics of project announcements. Multinational companies such as Syngenta, UPL, Albaugh, Sumitomo Chemical, and IHARA have launched a number of acetamiprid mixtureston markets like Brazil and India. The value of acetamiprid is being explored in more depth.

Dinotefuran is a third-generation nicotinoid insecticide developed by Mitsui Chemicals. There are as many as 301 registrations of dinotefuran single agent and different types of formulations, that can be applied to various scenarios in China, which have a promising future. In terms of capacity newbuild, in the past two years, the Chinese companies Flagchem, Zhengbang and Good Harvest have launched a newbuild of the capacity of dinotefuran technical. 

Indoxacarb is an insecticide that returns to the public eye due to its resistance to chlorantraniliprole. Because of its excellent results in controlling lepidopteran pests such as rice stem borer, indoxacarb is highly regarded by the market. In the last two years, not only has the scope of the indoxacarb application extended in the Chinese market, but the targets of control have also been extended. Hence, the market demand and production capacity have been growing steadily, with build capacity of nearly 6,000 tons from 2021 to the present.

23 pesticidal ingredients coming off-patent in 2015 - 2018

According to statistics, 23 pesticidal ingredients came off-patent in 2015 – 2018 (Table2), including prothioconazole and pyraclostrobin, which used to be the global top 20 market-value varieties in 2021.

Since the pyraclostrobin patent expired in China in 2015, Chinese companies have accelerated their process of production layout. Up to now, 76 technical materials have been registered in China. Shandong Kangqiao, Yangnong Chemical, Liben Crop Science, Hailir, Xinnong, and ABA Chemical are major pyraclostrobin manufacturers in China. Among them, Shandong Kangqiao is the first enterprise in China to obtain registration of pyraclostrobin. The European Union technical equivalence of its pyraclostrobin technical is determined and independently registered in Canada. The company’s annual production capacity of 2,000 tons of pyraclostrobin has been operational. In addition, Liben Crop Science, Hailir, and Xinnong have launched a new production capacity of the product. 

Prothioconazole is a fungicide successfully commercialized with global sales of US$1.328 billion in 2023. China has the advantage of the complete industrial chain of prothioconazole, beginning from calcium carbide, the upstream raw materials/intermediates such as butyrolactone and α-acetyl-γ-butyrolactone, up to the development of technical material and formulations. As the registration of mixtures becomes mainstream on the market, Hailir, Anhui Jiuyi, Liyang Zhongnan Chemical, and Rainbow Chemical have successively launched prothioconazole formulations in the past years. The product’s  market potential is unleashed providing a great future prospect. 

42 pesticidal ingredients coming off-patent in 2019 – 2023

According to statistics, a total of 42 pesticidal ingredients came off-patent in 2019 – 2023 (Table3), including pinoxaden, pyroxsulam, and the insecticide chlorantraniliprole, which used to be the global top 20 market-value varieties in 2021.

Pinoxaden is a post-emergence and selective herbicide developed by Syngenta, launched in 2006, with sales swiftly crossing US$100 million in 2007. Since its patent expired in 2019, besides Syngenta, the Chinese companies Lier, Flagchem, Zhongshan, Fuhua Tongda, and Renxin have obtained registration of pinoxaden technical in China. In recent years, the resistance of gramineous weeds in wheat fields has developed rapidly. Pinoxaden’s excellent control of the worst weeds paves the way for its long-term growth. 

Chlorantraniliprole was brought into the Chinese market in 2008, and the patent of its compound expired in 2022, but the original manufacturer’s patent still restricts the product’s production. After Youdao Chemical’s bypassed the patent barrier, the registration of the technical material and capacity expansion of chlorantraniliprole ushered in explosive growth. 

With the continued unleashing of production capacity of the technical material, many Chinese enterprises made synchronized production layouts of key intermediates such as the upstream K acid and 3-bromo-1-(3-chloro-2-pyridinyl)-1H-Pyrazole-5-carboxylic. Chinese enterprises have also made innovation in developing downstream formulations and mixtures, thus having gradually formed a complete upstream and downstream resource support chain the country. Besides fulfilling the domestic market needs, the Chinese companies have begun to develop the international market to expand China’s global market share of chlorantraniliprole. 

To be continued.

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2024 China Pesticide Industry Watch