Sino-Agri: Promoting operation of a ‘non-selective herbicide value platform’ to build a highly efficient herbicide supply system

In 2023, the global pesticide industry saw a downward trend, experiencing challenges such as the sluggish market, intensified competition and serious price fluctuation. In the context of the general decline in the performance of the vast majority of listed pesticide companies, Sino-Agri, as a leading Chinese pesticide distributor and crop protection-oriented technical service provider, could perform very well against the adverse situation to have achieved an increase in net profit of RMB225 million yuan attributable to shareholders of listed companies, 6.91% up year on year while its sales of crop nutrition products increased by above 100% year on year. Since the beginning of 2024, Sino-Agri has maintained its stable operating performance growth. Among the 36 A-share listed pesticide companies, Sino-Agri is one of the few enterprises achieving growth in operating income and profitability in the first quarter.

A ″one-stop″ pesticide distribution platform enabling high-quality industry development

Sino-Agri is one of the few pesticide distribution companies with a complete marketing, sales and service network in China, backed up by the business strength of a state-owned enterprise, possessing high-quality channel resources and stable financial resources at home and abroad. Since 2019, Sino-Agri has strengthened the integration of product, capital, technology, channeling and brand, having made a global layout in the supply side, market side, risk prevention and control, which forms its apparent competitive advantage. By the end of 2023, Sino-Agri filed for a total of 3,599 registrations and 1,735 registrations were granted, ranking at the forefront of the industry. It is particularly worthy of note that Sino-Agri possesses nearly 40 independent registrations in the Brazilian market, which is a high-registration demanding market with great potential, providing the company with an outstanding first-mover advantage.

On March 20, 2023, to better serve customers and follow the company’s new business model of ″based upon domestic market with market operation at both home and abroad,″ Sino-Agri upgraded its international brand with the launch of a new brand, which has the vision of ″To build a shared global future with inclusive agriculture″, dedicated to build a global supply chain value platform for crop protection market via collaboration with partners on a win-win basis.

Through the all-round integration of product, capital, technology, channeling and brand, Sino-Agri has established a ″one-stop″ pesticide supply platform with extensity and intensity, complete varieties and reasonable structure, which stretches out to the upstream and downstream customers while facilitating high-quality industry development, to improve the supply resilience and safety of the pesticide industry chain, thus enhance the competitiveness of the Chinese agrochemical enterprises in the global market.

Strategic operation of a global crop protection supply chain value platform

After upgrading its international brand image, Sino-Agri has been operating its new brand concept, and it is committed to building a global supply chain value platform for the agricultural crop protection market. In combination with the new business model of ″based upon the domestic market with market operation at both home and abroad,″ the company is making continuous adjustments and optimization of crop solutions to achieve more targeted and localized applications to meet the growing and changing needs of terminal growers.

In March 2023, Sino-Agri’s subsidiary launched a strategic cooperation with Corteva, having executed a cooperation agreement on a new product sub-packaging to promote the joint implementation of a new project. In the same month, Sino-Agri signed a cooperation agreement with Bayer, where the two sides would conduct an in-depth cooperation in promoting Bayer’s third-party brand authorization-oriented services.

Sino-Agri says that in future, the company is prepared to further grow its product resources and to have further cooperation with lead manufacturers of major products, innovative manufacturers, formulation researchers, processing and packaging enterprises, and superior companies in the industrial chain and will establish a sound supplier warehousing, evaluation, audit and risk management system.

In the meantime, Sino-Agri will continue strengthening long-term strategic cooperation with B-end customers while exploring C-end independent brand operation with innovative business modes and efficient technical service in the regional market with distinctive resource advantages. With the market advantage of Sino-Agri International, Sino-Agri can assist domestic innovative manufacturers in expanding the international sales channels such that Sino-Agri can become a facilitator of sales of new Chinese compounds in the global market.

In January 2024, Sino-Agri reached a strategic partnership with Yangnong Chemical and KingAgroot. Backed up by its national pesticide distributor status, through cooperation Sino-Agri could utilize Yangnong Chemical’s advantages in technical innovation, pesticide creation and production, and KingAgroot’s innovative advantages in patented compounds and GM technology. Via resource sharing, patent authorization and technical collaboration, Sino-Agri operates its business in an all-round way covering technical materials, intermediates, formulations and international market development. This kind of resource sharing, collaboration, integration and complementarity enhances the in-depth interrelated cooperation between the upstream and downstream industrial chains, providing a solid foundation for strategic expansion and value creation in favor of all parties in a prospective market.

In March 2024, Sino-Agri cooperated with KingAgroot in a joint launch of a series of novel patented herbicides - Jingjin Kaili (Fenpyrazone 6% OD) and Zhongnong Maishi  (Bipyrazone 10% OD). Fenpyrazone and Bipyrazone are both patented HPPD inhibitor herbicides created by KingAgroot. The addition of Jingjin Kaili into the product portfolio is not only an effective supplementation to Sino-Agri’s product line in the field of corn herbicides, providing strong support to the company’s market penetration and layout in the herbicide market, but is also a more efficient and labor-saving weeding solution for growers. This will further consolidate Sino-Agri’s leading position in agricultural science and technology.

In terms of growing GM crops, the glyphosate-tolerant trait is of significant growth potential for burndown herbicides. With the high penetration of herbicide-tolerant GM crops in significant countries, burndown herbicide is expected to continue to hold its leading position in the pesticide market. Based on the ″non-selective herbicide value platform,″ Sino-Agri is gathering the product resources of Chinese prime herbicide manufacturers, which include paraquat, diquat, glyphosate, glufosinate and L-glufosinate, striving to build the world’s largest supply chain value platform for burndown herbicides, to meet the growing market demand.

On July 18-19, 2024, Huang Baiji, General Manager of Sino-Agri, will attend the 2024 China Pesticide Exporting Workshop (CPEW), held by AgroPages in Hangzhou, where Mr Huang will deliver a report titled ″To Build a Global Supply Chain Value Platform″ to present Sino-Agri’s effort to build and optimize the high-efficient burndown herbicide supply platform. Meanwhile, Mr Huang will share his opinions and experiences in establishing an optimum co-existing agrochemical ecosystem. 

Theme of presentation: Building an Efficient Sourcing Platform of Non-selective Herbicides

Speaker: Huang Baiji, General Manager, Sino-Agri Leading Biosciences (China)

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