Clomazone Has Bright Market Prospects in China

By Liu Zhijun and Lu Xiuting, Shandong Pesticide Information Center

1. Excellent quality of clomazone technical

In the 1990s, many domestic enterprises like Jiangsu Changqing Agrochemical Co., Ltd, Jiangsu Jiannong Agrochemical Co., Ltd, Hebei Xuanhua Pesticide Co., Ltd and Dalian Songliao Chemical Industry Co., Ltd were involved in the production of clomazone. Through competition and elimination, only Shandong Cynda Chemical Co., Ltd, Cangzhou Green Chemical Co., Ltd, Jiangsu Lianhe Chemical Technology Co., Ltd and Jiangsu Baozong & Baoda Pharmachem Co., Ltd are left. Among these, Jiangsu Lianhe Chemical Technology Co., Ltd and Jiangsu Baozong & Baoda Pharmachem Co., Ltd are FMC’s  clomazone technical producers in China, and also FMC’s major clomazone production base in the world. The products produced by Jiangsu Lianhe Chemical Technology Co., Ltd and Jiangsu Baozong & Baoda Pharmachem Co., Ltd are all supplied to FMC for export.
At present, China’s clomazone process features advanced production technology, high product yield and low impurity content, and the purity of the domestic clomazone product can be compared to foreign products. In addition to a large growth in demand in China, domestic clomazone product is also exported to the major international pesticide markets.

2. Numerous formulations

Clomazone is slightly soluble in water (solubility in water is 1.1g/l at 25 degrees centigrade), and easily soluble in organic solvents such as acetone, acetonitrile, chloroform, cyclohexanone, dichloromethane, methanol and toluene. Therefore, emulsifiable concentrate (EC) is the most common formulation of clomazone, and the content of effective components is usually 48%, 40% and 500 or 750g/l. There are many clomazone EC products, the most famous of which are FMC’s Command, and clomazone EC from Shandong Cynda Chemical Co., Ltd or Dalian Songliao Chemical Industry Co., Ltd, etc.
   For the needs of different crops, different regions and different markets, manufacturers have developed some compound formulations, such as clomazone + fomesafen + quizalofop-p-ethyl EC, clomazone + acetochlor EC as well as wettable powders, clomazone + imazethapyr EC as well as microemulsion, clomazone + fomesafen + imazethapyr microemulsion as well as EC, clomazone + bensulfuron methyl wettable powders, clomazone + pretilachlor EC, clomazone + propisochlor EC, clomazone + butralin EC, clomazone + fluoroglycofen EC, clomazone + 2,4-D butylate +propisochlor EC and clomazone + fomesafen EC.

3. Active registrations

Domestic enterprises began to register for the production of clomazone in 1996. According to the dynamic statistics of pesticide registration, as of September 2012, 18 clomazone technical, 112 single-component clomazone formulations and 65 compound clomazone formulations have been registered in China. The single-component clomazone formulations are mainly EC, microemulsion and microcapsule, and mainly registered for the control of annual weeds in soybean and rape fields. The compound clomazone formulations including binary compounds and tertiary compounds are mainly EC, microemulsion and wettable powders, and mainly registered for soybean, rape and sugarcane fields. The compatibility herbicides for making the compound formulations include butralin, quizalofop-p-ethyl, fomesafen, metolachlor, acetochlor, 2,4-D butylate, imazethapyr,  metribuzin, clethodim, bensulfuron methyl and pretilachlor, etc. Among these, the registration number of quizalofop-p-ethyl, Command and fomesafen with the fastest development, most famous and widespread use once accounted for 1/4 of the total, and the registration contents include 13.6%, 18% 35% and 36%. The domestic enterprises registered for making clomazone formulations are mainly concentrated in provinces like Shandong, Liaoning, Jiangsu, and Heilongjiang.
   The registration crops of clomazone around the world include soybeans, tobacco, sugarcane, rice, rape, cotton, peppers and melons (watermelons, cucumbers, pumpkins and zucchini). In China, at the beginning of promotion, clomazone was mainly used in soybean fields. In Northeast China which is China’s major soybean producing region, due to its excellent control effectiveness on the common malignant weeds in Northeast China’s soybean field, the promotion of FMC’s Command has been extremely successful. At present, in Northeast China’s soybean market, clomazone EC of Shandong Cynda Chemical Co., Ltd and Dalian Songliao Chemical Industry Co., Ltd also have good performance.
   Clomazone is mainly used in rape transplanting fields, usually compounded with acetochlor, and it can control some weeds that acetochlor cannot remove, especially some malignant broadleaf weeds. Direct seeding rape sometimes produces phytotoxicity, however, in the period of after sowing and before seedlings, the use of low dosage for the soil closing treatment generally does not produce phytotoxicity. In some regions of Anhui province, in recent years, the use of clomazone in direct seeding rape field with relatively large areas is also good.

4. The market prospect of clomazone is bright.

The global sales value of clomazone reached around US$255 million in 2009. At present, the annual consumption of clomazone in the world is around 7 thousand tons. With the constant growth of applicable crops, the clomazone consumption will continue to increase, and in the next 3-5 years, the global annual consumption of clomazone will exceed 10 thousand tons. In China, clomazone is the soybean field herbicide with the most extensive application and the best effect. Its single-component formulations and compound formulations have developed very quickly and have been widely recognized by the market.

(1) New opportunities for the future market of clomazone
Soybeans, peanuts and rape are China's largest oil crops with large planting areas. Clomazone has been very widely used in soybeans and rape, and soybeans and rape have become a very mature market of clomazone. The new opportunity for the future market of clomazone lies in the constant increase of applicable crops. The use of clomazone on other crops such as rice, sugarcane, cotton and tobacco that has achieved a great success in foreign counties has just started in China and not yet popularized. Due to the great planting areas of other crops, once the use of clomazone in others crops has been successfully promoted, the future market of clomazone in China will be inestimable.
   Firstly, the occurrence of weeds is serious in paddy fields, and rice is one of the crops with the largest consumption of herbicides. The application of clomazone in paddy fields is not only feasible, but also very effective. China is the world's largest rice producer. As a large agricultural country, China’s rice output has been far ahead among the main grain crops, accounting for 40%-50% of the total output of grain crops, and the annual planting area of rice has reached 30.7 million hectares.
Secondly, sugarcane also plays a decisive role in China’s agricultural planting structure, and it is the sugar crop with the largest planting area. Since the policy of contracting land gave farmers full cultivation autonomy in 1978, China’s planting area of sugarcane has increased rapidly.
   Thirdly, cotton is China's most important and the largest economic crop with large output and extensive cultivation, and at the same time it is also the world's major crop. China is the largest cotton producer, consumer and importer in the world, and China’s planting area of cotton reached 5.212 million hectares and 5.31 million hectares, respectively in 2009 and 2010.
   Fourthly, China is the world's largest tobacco producer. In the first half of 2011, China’s planting area of tobacco reached 1.24 million hectares, exceeding the figure of 1.06 million hectares in 2010.
   The continuous development of applicable crops mentioned above will offer a broad market space for the future development of clomazone.

(2) Numerous compatibility herbicides contribute to the substantial market demand
Due to its broad spectrum and good control effect, clomazone can be compounded with numerous herbicides including the current best-selling herbicides such as fomesafen, metribuzin, clethodim, bensulfuron methyl, imazethapyr, quizalofop-p-ethyl as well as sprout inhibitor butralin. The constant increase of compatibility herbicides has expanded the market, and at the same time the market development of compatibility herbicides has also promoted the sales of clomazone and opened its market space.

(3) Expansion in the international market
Chinese firms are planning to enter and develop the markets of Brazil, Argentina and the United States, and having successfully entered these markets, the Chinese products are very competitive in the international market.
   Clomazone features excellent quality, extensive application and stable market. The demand for clomazone at home and abroad is large, and the market space that can be developed is very vast. In recent years, with the adjustment of planting structure around the world, some new herbicides with high effectiveness have been withdrawn from the market due to the phytotoxicity problem, and clomazone has faced good market opportunities. With the improvement of process and application technology, and the gradual promotion of clomazone in the crops like rice, sugarcane, cotton and tobacco, clomazone will have sustained and stable development. At the same time, its excellent quality and high performance/price ratio have attracted many international players, and also made the export prospects of Chinese producers very optimistic.