Insight on booming Chinese market

While many China observers follow political developments in the country, the agrochemical industry keenly watches its emergence as a major pesticide market.  According to a new Agrow report, China is set to become the world's largest market for agrochemicals.

The Chinese market already accounts for 5% of global sales, with a value of possibly US$1,000 million. Of further interest to industry is the average of US$5 per ha spent on pesticides: ten times less than the US average.
    Since 1990, China has been the second largest agrochemical producer, with a predominantly national industry remaining protected by the State, in spite of the country's openness to foreign investment. Despite financial uncertainty, the market size is irresistible to the major agrochemical companies, and the top seven ranking companies have all established production facilities.
    In 1996, insecticides made up 73% of the output, but it is not clear which are the major products used. Those manufactured by national companies are thought to be mainly organophosphates, including trichlorfon, dichlorvos, dimethoate, omethoate, parathion-methyl, parathion, methamidophos and phoxim. Rhône-Poulenc has indicated its major products are ethoprophos, aldicarb, thiodicarb, and fipronil, Dow sells large quantities of chlorpyrifos, and Zeneca's best selling insecticide is lambda-cyhalothrin.
    Some agrochemical dealers believe sales are higher than the figures quoted, and could be as high as US$2 billion a year.  They predict annual increases of 5% between 1996-2005. It is also thought China will increase its use of higher value, low toxicity products. Herbicide use is increasing, according to some sources, by 2 million ha a year as a result of changes in farming and cropping practices. Zeneca has particularly targeted China for sales of its herbicide paraquat, which increased by about 50% in 1995, and by another 50% in 1996. A paraquat factory should come on-stream in 1998.

Agriculture and food security
Producing food to keep pace with a growing population is politically important. The urban population is growing fast, while the rural dwellers have decreased from 82% in 1978 to 60% in 1996, and government policies to control population growth will result in ageing communities.

Pesticide problems-and answers?
There are problems from pesticide use in the country. Pesticide poisoning is a major problem, resulting in large numbers of deaths: 10,000 farm worker deaths from pesticides in 1993. In 1995, the National Statistics Bureau in China reported that there had been 15,300 pesticide poisoning cases in 27 provinces as a result of agricultural use. The majority of cases involved organophosphate insecticides, 7,500 poisonings were attributed to parathion, methamidophos and omethoate. In other examples of recorded poisonings contaminated vegetables were responsible for 200 students in Guangxi requiring hospital treatment in 1995. Residents in Hong Kong and China have suffered food poisoning after eating Chinese-produced vegetables that had been contaminated with OPs such as methamidophos.

Grimes, Alison, Crop Production Opportunities in China, Report DS147, Agrow, PJB Publications, Richmond, Surrey TW10 6UA, UK, Fax +44 181 948 6866, 1998, £395, pp128.

[This article first appeared in Pesticides News No. 39, March 1998, page 14 ]