Pesticide Prices Stable in 1H   

With impacts from extreme climate conditions such as drought, cold weather and storms, and price fluctuations of raw materials, the pesticide market in China was still in oversupply in the first half of 2010. Market prices were up for some varieties and down for others, but overall, prices increased slightly.
   Due to the increasingly short supply of phosphorus, the price of yellow phosphorus, a major raw material for organophosphorus pesticides, stopped going further down and started to pick up this year. The highest price of yellow phosphorus this year was RMB16 000 per ton, a slight increase over the same period of last year. Because of the drought in southwest China, the demand for organophosphorus pesticides was quite strong and the price of some organophosphorus pesticide varieties was promoted. The price of dichlorvos was RMB19 000 per ton at the end of June, being 8.08% higher than the price of RMB17 580 per ton in the prior-year period. The price of malathion increased to RMB16 000 per ton, the price of phoxim increased from RMB18 500 per ton to RMB21 500 per ton and the price of diazinon increased to RMB45 000 per ton. Miticides (acaricides) have a good market this year. Owing to the supply shortage and the raw material price rise, the price of pyridaben active ingredient went way up and had already reached RMB67 000 per ton in July, and its sales were much better than last year. The price of spirodiclofen active ingredient increased from RMB290 000 per ton in the same period of last year to RMB400 000 per ton with a growth of 37%. Chlorpyrifos is the organophosphorus insecticide with the biggest output in China today. The market for chlorpyrifos was slack in 2009. Its price slowly picked up from RMB17 000 per ton at the beginning of 2009 to the highest of around RMB22 000 per ton in April but dropped once again to RMB16 000 per ton in October 2009. Pushed by some factors such as the rising prices of raw materials, the prices of chlorpyrifos increased to RMB33 000-33 500 per ton at the end of April 2010. The operating rates of major producers were relatively high in the first half. The price of chlorpyrifos is predicted to reach RMB36 000 per ton this year.
   The overall pesticide market in China was slack from January to May this year. Among the pesticides with falling prices were 1.8% abamectin, with its price down from RMB39 000 per ton to RMB36 500 per ton - a drop of 6.41% year on year; 18% bisultap aqueous concentrate, the price of which was down from RMB4 200 per ton to RMB4 000 per ton - a year-on-year drop of 4.76%; high-effect cyfluthrin active ingredient, with its price down from RMB195 000 per ton to RMB160 000 per ton - a drop of 17.9%; and imidacloprid active ingredient, with its price down from RMB110 000 per ton to RMB80 000 per ton - a drop of 37.5%. Among fungicides, the price of 50% carbendazim wettable powder was down from RMB32 000 per ton to RMB28 500 per ton - a drop of 10.93%. The price of nitenpyram active ingredient (100%) was RMB500 000 per ton in 2008 but dropped to RMB400 000 per ton in April 2009. With the progress of technology and an increasing number of producers, the price of nitenpyram came further down to around RMB380 000 per ton in May this year. China has six nitenpyram producers today. Their combined capacity is around 1 000 t/a, and the actual output is around 500 tons a year, falling far short of the domestic market demand.
   The reduced availability of rural laborers has led to an increased demand for herbicides. The output of herbicides is however quite big in China and many producers have dropped their product prices in order to maintain market presence and add market share. According to statistics, the overall market price of herbicides is stable and prices of some varieties have fallen. The price of 50% butachlor emulsifiable concentrates came down from RMB22 500 per ton in June last year to RMB22 300 per ton this June with a drop of 0.89%. The price of 41% glyphosate soluble concentrate is down from RMB23 500 per ton to RMB21 800 per ton with a year-on-year drop of 7.23%. Both the output and the price of paraquat have increased this year. The price of 40% paraquat technical was up from RMB16 500 per ton to RMB18 500 per ton in June with an increase of 12.1%.
   With the price rise of corn, the demand for herbicides in corn fields has increased. Varieties with the biggest sales amount this year include acetochlor, atrazine and nicosulfuron - all three chemicals with expired patents. The price of 90% acetochlor was up from RMB21 500 per ton in June last year to RMB23 000 per ton this June. The price of atrazine was up from RMB19 000 per ton to RMB19 500 per ton. Nicosulfuron already holds a leading position in the weed control of corn fields. There are relatively few herbicides for corn fields in China, especially varieties for stalk and leaf treatment after sprouting. Nicosulfuron is one of the herbicides for corn fields with the greatest development potential. With the progress of technology and the drastic reduction of production cost after localization, the market price of nicosulfuron will also go down to a level to users' satisfaction. The wholesale price of 4% nicosulfuron suspension in China was RMB155 000 per ton in 2006 and was reduced to only around RMB32 000 per ton in June this year. And this low price was even 14.2% higher than the price of RMB28 000 per ton in the same period of last year.
   Impacts from green barriers on the export of China-made agricultural products have been more and more challenging for producers in recent years. Pesticide residue in food has become a major obstacle to the export of agricultural products. To enable pesticide residue in agricultural products for export to meet the requirements of importing countries, China imports more and more pesticides for domestic crops. This is the main reason for the rising price of imported products. In the consumption of insecticides, the domestically made products account for 70%-75% and the famous-brand imported products account for 25%-30%. The price of 48% chlorpyrifos emulsifiable concentrates produced by Dow AgroSciences stayed around RMB48 000 per ton this year. The domestically made product with the same content is sold at RMB31 000 per ton only. The price of the imported product is 54.8% higher than the domestic product. In herbicides, the price of imported cyhalofop-butyl emulsifiable concentrates has remained firm. Its wholesale price is RMB6.3 per liter and the retail sale price is RMB6.5 per liter. Whilst the wholesale price of the domestic product is RMB4.8 per liter and the retail sale price is RMB6.0 per ton. The wholesale price of 41% glyphosate in 200ml packages imported is RMB8.8 and the retail sale price is RMB9.0. The wholesale price of the domestic product in 200ml packages is RMB4.4 and the retail sale price is RMB6.0. Although prices of imported products are higher than domestic products, Chinese farmers still prefer the imported pesticides.
   According to statistics, prices of famous-brand imported pesticides are 10% higher on average this year. Owing to intellectual property rights, aggressive market dissemination and strong sales-channel protection, famous-brand imported pesticides have managed to maintain relatively high prices. Market fluctuations hardly affect their prices either.