Insecticides sales drop in the brisk season in China

Date:09-11-2009

The months of June and July are normally the brisk season for the sale and application of insecticides in China. The market was however slack in June and July this year. The main reason is the infrequency of pests in rice, cotton and corn in most regions of the country. Early rice has already been harvested now and the insecticide application season is over. This years insecticide application on late rice is yet to be determined by observations of pest incidence. Traditional insecticide formulations have been in oversupply in the market. Producers and dealers inventory of insecticide technical and formulations is building up, and the price is dropping constantly.

Due to slack sales and massive inventory, some major producers of buprofezin well-known for its control of rice plant hoppers have already suspended production. The price of 97% buprofezin powder is RMB38 000 per ton, a drop of 10% from March of this year. The demand for chlorpyrifos, the insecticide with the greatest consumption in China, is not big either. The price of 95% chlorpyrifos technical is RMB33 000-34 000 per ton, a drop of RMB8 000-9 000 per ton from March 2009. Due to the slack sales of acetamiprid, which is mainly used to control rice pests, the price of 95% acetamiprid technical is RMB100 000 per ton, a drop of RMB20 000 per ton from the highest price this spring. Because of a setback in exports and greater resistance in pests, demand for imidacloprid has fallen apparently. The price of 95% imidacloprid technical is RMB92 000 per ton, a drop of RMB35 000 per ton from the highest price this year. As the incidence of pests such as plant hoppers, aphids, white flies and leaf hoppers is not serious this year, sales of new triazone heterocyclic insecticide pymetrozine are stable and the price has been reduced slightly. The price of pymetrozine technical is RMB400 000 per ton, a drop of RMB10 000 per ton from the same period of 2008. Brisk seasons and off-seasons have great impacts on the production and sales of bio-insecticide abamectin. Its considerable price fluctuations are caused by swings of the supply/demand balance. With the coming of the brisk season and the increase of sales by formulation enterprises at the end of May 2009, there was a shortage of the product. The price of abamectin technical increased remarkably to RMB1.1 million per ton in May. The incidence of pests is less serious now so the demand is down. The price has dropped by 36% to RMB700 000 per ton. In pyrethroid insecticides/miticides, the price of 95% lambda-cyhalothrin powder is RMB170 000 per ton, a drop of RMB40 000 per ton from the highest price in this spring. The price of 95% cypermethrin technical is RMB82 000 per ton, a drop of RMB6 000 per ton. The price of 27% beta-cypermethrin benzene oil is RMB35 000 per ton, a drop of RMB6 000 per ton. The market price of broad-spectrum deltamethrin is RMB650 000 per ton, a drop of RMB50 000 per ton from the price in the same period of 2008. According to producers in Jiangsu province, Tianjin and Guangdong province, as aphids, diamond back moths and beet army worms are rampant in cotton, fruit trees, vegetables and gardens, the demand for pyrethroid insecticides is increasing steadily and the price has also stopped going down. Price recovery is however not yet certain.