Qilu Pharmaceutical: Serving the Sustainable Development of Agriculture with Innovative Biopesticides

Date:03-01-2021

The Qilu Pharmaceutical Group (‘Qilu Pharmaceutical’ or ‘the Group’) is one of the Top 10 pharmaceutical companies in China dedicated to comprehensive pharmaceutical manufacturing and operations. Evaluated as China’s most innovative development company, the Group has implemented the innovation-driven development concept of “expressing our love with technology,” while focusing on technical research and development to create contemporary biomedical products. The Group owns a pharmaceutical research institute at its headquarters in Jinan, an innovative pharmaceutical research institute in Zhangjiang, Shanghai, and four biomedical R&D centers in the United States (US). Subsidiaries of the Group also have their own technical R&D centers or research institutes.

New achievements in the agrochemical sector

Jiang Yuguo General Manager of Qilu Inner Mongolia

To accelerate the innovative research and development of the biological products in the agrochemical sector, Qilu Pharmaceutical (Inner Mongolia) Co., Ltd. (‘Qilu Inner Mongolia’), a subsidiary of the Group, established a biotechnology innovation research institute, which is headed by a top scientist, focusing on the innovative research and development of agrochemical products.

Founded in 2009, Qilu Inner Mongolia is a large scale Chinese antibiotics manufacturing enterprise, is the largest producer of Abamectin and Emamectin Benzoate technicals in the world, and is a comprehensively competitive agrochemical company. The sales revenue of the company reached RMB2.35 billion in 2020. In an interview, Jiang Yuguo, General Manager of Qilu Inner Mongolia, said that the company has always maintained a leading position in the R&D and production of Abamectin, a core product of the company, with the largest production capacity in the world and over 50% of market share. With its global sales network, Qilu Inner Mongolia can provide customers with highly efficient product services and after-sales support at any time. Currently, the company has over 100 overseas customers from more than 20 countries and regions, such as the US, Europe, South America, Southeast Asia, South Africa, Russia and Australia. The company has achieved an average growth rate of over 50% in the past three years.

Increasingly obvious trend of concentration in Abamectin and Emamectin Benzoate segments 

Abamectin and Emamectin Benzoate are valuable biopesticide products, with good insecticidal effect, low residue and high environmental friendliness. Being in line with development trends in crop protection, these products have considerable development potential.

Many companies have been involved in these two products over the past few years. “The fierce competition in the current market also proves that these two products are promising. Good products are attractive to everyone. We hope that all competitors can do a good job together, maintain the market well, help farmers use products correctly, and generate more profit,” Jiang said.

“These two technical products will experience a competitive development and evolution process among many players dominated by a few giants. Qilu Inner Mongolia is confident it can confront this changing process and become one of the dominators. By making the realization of the Chinese Dream and Qilu’s dream our corporate mission, we diligently strive for every product upgrade and continuous quality improvement, to create safe, efficient and reliable biogenic pesticide products. We will continue to lead the development of the green biopesticide industry and maintain our leading position,” Jiang added, noting that Qilu Inner Mongolia has the confidence and ability to face the challenges of the market. 

Four core strengths

Maintaining a long-term leading position needs the support of strong R&D, a solid quality management system, a far-sighted production capacity arrangement, and a sustainability strategy. According to Jiang, Qilu Pharmaceutical has four core strengths that enable it to maintain its vitality in the field of biopesticides.

1. The R&D and innovation ability in biotechnology

Qilu Pharmaceutical always focuses on the continuous optimization of strains and technology, the improvement of product quality, production level and output, the reduction of costs, and the enhancement of product value. It also prioritizes the introduction and reserve of talents, as well as advanced instruments and equipment, to boost its research and development capabilities. 

Qilu Pharmaceutical has developed a high-throughput screening technology suitable for its own strains and has continuously improved the production level of new and old products by combining synthetic biotechnology. It is one of the few companies in China that can combine traditional mutation-screening with genetic engineering methods to improve strains. 

Qilu Pharmaceutical has cooperated with universities, research institutes and biotechnology companies both at home and abroad to improve strains and develop technologies. It participated in the Efficient Microbial Synthesis and Biological Production of Avermectin project, which won the second prize at the National Science and Technology Progress Award. Based on Spinosad strains and associated process technologies it independently development, Qilu Pharmaceutical is one of the two companies in the world that commercialized Spinosad and can supply it in large quantities.

2. New product development capabilities

While maintaining its leading global position in terms of Abamectin, Qilu Pharmaceutical has also invested considerably in developing other biological products, such as Spinosad, to offer customers more options.

According to Jiang, the company has a three stage R&D plan. The first is to develop other efficient, green pesticide products similar to Spinosad, such as Spinetoram and Butenyl Spinosyn. The second is to develop fungicide related products with wide application prospects. The third is to implement the research and development of biostimulants and regulators, as well as to explore the field of bio-based pheromone products. The company is committed to providing biological control solutions to reduce the adverse effects of the excessive use of pesticides on the environment and maintain the green and sustainable development of the plant protection industry.

3. The ability to meet market demand

Despite holding a leading position in the industry, Qilu Pharmaceutical is always highly sensitive to market demand and is well prepared with sufficient production capacity, to ensure the timely supply of quality products as ordered.

In response to the mentioned business philosophy, Qilu Inner Mongolia established Qilu Pharmaceutical (Inner Mongolia) Co., Ltd. Hulun Buir Branch (Qilu Hulun Buir), which began its operation on August, 2020. This production base is the first phase project of the Qilu Pharmaceutical New Industrial Fermentation Park, which has a total investment of RMB3.5 billion and a floor area of around 67 hectares. With the installation of fermenters with a total volume of above 50,000 cubic meters, the accumulative volume of fermenters of the company exceeds 100,000 cubic meters.

The base is mainly used for expanding the production capacity of Spinosad technicals and producing new biogenic technicals. At present, Qilu Hulun Buir is capable of producing 1,200 tons of Spinosad a year, enabling the company to be well prepared for the growing market demand.

Hulun Buir Industrial Park mainly produces biogenic agrochemical products with high quality, safety, efficiency and environmental friendliness by using advanced biotechnology and fermentation technology, to protect crop health, increase agricultural output and contribute to human food security. In addition to Spinosad, other biogenic agrochemical products will be included in the product mix of the base, ultimately promoting Qilu Inner Mongolia as the largest producer of technicals of biogenic agrochemical products in the world.

Qilu Pharmaceutical plans to expand the Emamectin Benzoate production capacity of Qilu Synva, a wholly owned subsidiary of Qilu Pharmaceutical. By making full use of the advantages of integrated upstream and downstream chains, Qilu Pharmaceutical is able to solidify its dominant position in terms of Abamectin and Emamectin Benzoate and maintain its leading position in the industry.

4. The capacity for sustainable development

In the course of construction, production and operation, Qilu Pharmaceutical always places safety and environmental protection at a strategic level. The company has kept a good record in production and operational safety, through its continuous efforts to upgrade its equipment and facilities, increase its processing capacity, improve its EHS risk management and control ability, and implement a sound management system and safety-in-work responsibility system. Currently, the company has invested RMB400 million in environmental protection, and all types of sewage, waste gas, solid waste and solvents are effectively treated and recycled. The company will continue committing to energy conservation, emission reduction, clean production, resource consumption reduction and sustainable development.

Based on the strength of its superior resources and capabilities, the company can provide high quality products at low prices and create more product value. By reasonably sharing the values of the product chain, the company grows with its strategic partners and customers.

Strength-based cooperation 

According to Jiang, Qilu Inner Mongolia is a new player in the agrochemical industry and currently only focuses on using biotechnology to produce biogenic technical products. However, the company has not limited its vision to this and aims to develop a series of targeted new solutions for farmers. With an open mind, the company cooperates with technical R&D companies, formulation manufacturers and firms involved in agronomy.

For example, Qilu Inner Mongolia is a dedicated producer of Spinosad technicals, but it is also the developer and applicant of 10% Spinosad SC and 0.5% Spinosad SC. The company licensed a well-known domestic company to produce and market the products, with the aim of solving the problems caused by pests and ensure the safe storage of hundreds of millions of tons of grains for strategic reserve in China.

“As we all know, highly toxic fumigants, such as zinc, sulfur and phosphorus fumigants, are often used in China for grain storage protection. These products can cause problems, such as pesticide residue and food pollution during the process of disinfestation, which is not conducive to food safety. Qilu Inner Mongolia developed and submitted for approval a 10% Spinosad SC product and cooperated with a domestic company to commercialize it, helping solve this outstanding problem and providing a new solution for national grain storage. In the future, Qilu Inner Mongolia will expand its cooperation with firms in the industry and provide more Spinosad-based solutions for various applications,” Jiang explained.

Continual innovation for a better future

Qilu Inner Mongolia will continue to focus on the research and development of advanced biotechnology to create more biogenic technicals and biopesticide products. The company is willing to cooperate with firms in the industry to offer more feasible crop protection solutions, to improve agricultural productivity and ensure human food security. At the same time, the company will attach more importance to the research of bio-based pheromone and aims to afford more solutions for biological control. In this process, Qilu Inner Mongolia hopes to evolve into a globally famous and respected biopesticide manufacturer and a leading player in biological control.

(Editing by Erwin Xue and Christina Xie, AgroPages)

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Christina Xie

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This article was initially published in AgroPages ‘Annual Review 2020’ magazine. Download it to read more articles.