2016 China Pesticide Registration Watch

 

According to AgroPages China Pesticide Registration Watch, the Institute for the Control of Agrochemicals under China's Ministry of Agriculture approved 2140 pesticide registrations in 2016, down 27.6% from 2015. Herbicide registrations dropped by 21% year on year and numbered 734, accounting for 34% of the total. There were 732 fungicide registrations,

26% fewer than in 2015 and making up 33% of the total. Insecticides, which ranked third, had 519 registrations in 2016 -- a 45% plunge as compared to 2015. (Figure 1) 
 

By formulation, products registered in 2016 fell into three categories -- technicals, single active formulations, and mixtures. Single active formulations, with 1069 registrations, represented 50% of the total. Mixtures came in second, receiving 838 registrations, which translated into a 39% share. There are 272 technical registrations, accounting for 11% of the total. 
 

By pesticide category, 2,4-D was the top registered technicals of herbicides in 2016, followed by glufosinate and dicamba. Glufosinate retained its popularity and became the hottest single active formulation of herbicides, boasting 52 registrations. Pyraclostrobin and thiamethoxam were the leading fungicide and insecticide respectively, as they had been in 2015. (Table 1) 

Pesticide registrations in 2016 were concentrated on 7 major crops -- rice (472), wheat (211), corn (192), cucumber (164), cabbage (112), apple (102), and citrus (98), which combined comprised 63% of all registrations. The top crops for which herbicides were registered for use in were corn, wheat, rice, citrus, apple, and cabbage, which combined accounted for 49% of herbicide registrations. In the case of insecticides, the top crops were rice, cabbage, citrus, wheat, cucumber, and corn, which combined contributed 77% of such registrations. Rice, cucumber, apple, wheat, and corn put together constituted 66% of fungicide registrations. See Figure 2. 
 

Figure 2. Pesticide registrations by crops in 2016
 

According to rough statistics, 2016 was the year 31 products were registered for the first time in China (see Table 2). In particular, new biopesticides performed quite well.

Multinationals continued to impress. Bayer registered a new compound in each of the three major categories. Florpyrauxifen was the second aryl-picolinate herbicide developed by Dow AgroSciences, after halauxifen-methyl. The 3% emulsifiable concentrate of florpyrauxifen, trademarked Rinskor™, is mainly used as a spray on stems and leaves against annual weeds in transplanting fields and direct sowing fields of rice. BASF did not register new active ingredients. But its 9% aqueous capsule suspension of pyraclostrobin was introduced into China for the first time. This product is mainly used against rice blast. In addition, benzobicylon and pyraclonil, which had excellent track records in Japan's market for rice herbicides, were debuted in China. Nanjing GoodAgro Co., Ltd. has been in close contact with the suppliers of technical materials for these two products and plans to develop mixtures based on them, hoping to make breakthroughs in developing pre-emergence herbicides for China's transplanting fields and direct sowing fields of rice. In 2016, the company registered the 16% floating jumbo granule formulation of pyrazosulfuron-ethyl plus pretilachlor for the first time in China. That is intended for weed control in pre transplanting fields of rice and has been well received by the market. 
 

Biopesticides continued down a path of success. North China Pharmaceutical Group Co., Ltd., for the first time, registered its patented product bacillus methylotro-phicus strain 9912, intended for use against cucumber downy mildew. Erdos City Jintuo Chemicals Co., Ltd. conducted the first ever registration for sophora alopecuroids alkaloid, a product for aphid control. Stockton, a renowned biopesticide firm from Israel, registered its patented product terpinen-4-ol for the first time in China. It is intended for use against powdery mildew of the strawberry and early blight of the tomato. Timorex Gold, a flagship biofungicide that uses terpinen-4-ol as its core ingredient and has been applied to more crops in over 20 countries and regions globally. According to Guy Elizur, CEO of Stockton, currently, they certainly aim to position Timorex Gold's value proposition in broad acre crops, and in 2016 they already generated commercial success with rice in some of core markets, and they are continuing to do so with other raw crops. 
 

For that, STK deploys the latest biotech tools, including the monitoring of defense-related gene expressions, pathogenesis related proteins, bioinformatics and genomic analysis. 

Please download AgroPages' latest magazine - 2017 China Pesticide Suppliers Guide to see more.