First Chinese company granted fluoxastrobin technical registration from ICAMA

On March 29, 2024, ICAMA of the Chinese Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs announced the latest batch of pesticide registrations to be approved, which includes Jiangsu Good Harvest’s fluoxastrobin 94% TC, fluoxastrobin.tebuconazole 43% SC and fluoxastrobin.chlorothalonil 51% SC intended for grant of registration, which will be the first-time grant of registration of fluoxastrobin to a Chinese domestic company.

Fluoxastrobin was a fluorinated strobilurin fungicide developed by Bayer in 1994 and launched to market in 2004, which is highly active against almost all fungal diseases such as rust, Septo-ria nodorum, web blotch, powdery mildew, downy mildew, being widely used in cereal crops, potatoes, vegetables and coffee crops.

Fluoxastrobin is a novel systemic fungicide with both protective and curative effects. It can be quickly absorbed by plants and evenly distributed via upward transport, preventing the pathogen invasion and improving plant immunity. At the same time, fluoxastrobin is of the dual function of contact toxicity and long-lasting effect. Its advantage lies on the excellent conductivity, which can be conducted to the top after foliar spraying, being inhibitory against spore germination and mycelial growth. Under same conditions, the performance of fluoxastrobin in leaf penetration, cross-layer transport and xylem conduction is better than comparable products like azoxystrobin, trifloxystrobin and pyraclostrobin. Its global sales have exceeded the US$200 million.

Figure 1   Structural Formula of Fluoxastrobin

Registration of Fluoxastrobin in China

According to China Pesticide Information Network, as of April 7, 2024, there have been five valid fluoxastrobin registrations in China, including Bayer’s fluoxastrobin 94%, Arysta’s one single agent (fluoxastrobin 480 g/L SC) and 3 mixtures (fluoxastrobin.chlorothalonil 51% SC, fluoxastrobin.propamocarb 38% SC and fluoxastrobin.tebuconazole 43% SC).

On June 20, 2016, Bayer was granted temporary registration of fluoxastrobin 94% TC in China, followed by full registration on September 18, 2016.

In terms of formulations, on June 22, 2016, Arysta LifeScience Corporation was granted temporary registration of fluoxastrobin.chlorothalonil 51% SC (fluoxastrobin 4.6% + chlorothalonil 46.4%) in China. On September 18, 2016, the two products were granted full registration in China for prevention and control of tomato late blight and cucumber downy mildew. On March 16, 2017, in China, Arysta held a market launch conference for its product Yiweiduo (fluoxastrobin.chlorothalonil 51% SC), which signified the full launch of Yiweiduo to the Chinese market.

On July 24, 2018, fluoxastrobin.tebuconazole 43% SC of Arysta North America was granted registration in China for prevention and control of corn leaf blight and cucumber powdery mildew. On January 18, 2022, wheat powdery mildew and wheat scab were added to the scope of application; control of peanut brown spot and citrus scab were also added on April 24, 2022.

On August 31, 2022, Arysta North America’s fluoxastrobin.propamocarb 38% SC was granted registration for control of potato late blight.

On October 9, 2022, the 480 g/L fluoxastrobin SC of Arysta North America was granted registration in China for prevention and control of grape anthracnose; on June 21, 2023, control of pepper blight was added. 

Global market development and launch of fluoxastrobin

In 2004, Bayer launched fluoxastrobin to market. In 2005, Arysta (later acquired by UPL) was authorized the rights of distribution of Bayer’s fluoxastrobin, being responsible for market development in the United States, Canada and Japan, but the market development was limited to non-crop areas such as turf and ornamental crops. In 2012, Arysta was delegated the exclusive right of sale of fluoxastrobin for use in both crops and non-crops, while Bayer retained the right to develop and sell the fluoxastrobin seed treatment and part of special mixtures. After a series of collaboration with Bayer in licensing and distribution, by 2012, Arysta successfully promoted and marketed two brand series, which are respectively Evito and Disarm.

In the following years, Arysta began to cooperate with other multinational companies in joint development of the fluoxastrobin market. In 2013, Arysta entered into an agreement with Isagro in a joint development and sale of fluoxastrobin-based and tetraconazole-based fungicides in the global market. In the same year, Arysta cooperated with Cheminova in the market launch of Fortix in the U.S. market for use in corn and soybean. In 2014, Arysta authorized FMC to sell the Disarm series for the U.S. turf and ornamental crop applications. 

With the joint efforts of Bayer, Arysta and FMC, fluoxastrobin has been registered for application to more than 40 crops across more than 30 countries for control of more than 100 fungal diseases, with sales being increased year by year. Its global sales in 2014 exceeded US$200 million, having become another blockbuster product in the global fungicide market.

The compound patent of fluoxastrobin in China, Europe and other part of the world expired on January 14, 2017; its registration data in the United States and the European Union also came off protection in 2015 and 2018 respectively.

Table 1   Global Fluoxastrobin Formulation Products

 (Incomplete statistics)

Growing market shows promising prospects

In recent years, the global sales of fluoxastrobin have been steadily growing, exceeding US$200 million and becoming the fifth largest strobilurins fungicide following azoxystrobin, pyraclostrobin, trifloxystrobin and picoxystrobin. Compared to the first-generation and the second-generation products, fluoxastrobin has a better systemicity, excellent disease control capacity and remarkable plant health function, with a good promotional value, being expected to play a key role in the future fungicide market.

Fluoxastrobin has been widely used in stem and foliar spraying, soil treatment, seed dressing in the European and American markets. Its time of application is flexible, with high effect of protection and treatment, both in the early stage of fungal infection and the mycelial growth stage. After the expiration of the compound patent of fluoxastrobin, large number of Chinese enterprises have carried out field trial of fluoxastrobin single agent and formulations, which are mainly for application to cucumber, banana, wheat and rice for control of powdery mildew, leaf spot, rust, false smut, rice blast, sheath blight and downy mildew. While the types of formulations and mixtures are increasing, fluoxastrobin will embrace its promising growth in the Chinese market. 

If you want to track more products dynamics in China, you are welcome to pay attention to the 2024 China Pesticide Exporting Worksop(CPEW)

11-12，July, Hangzhou, China