According to General Administration of Customs of the People’s Republic of China and business intelligence firm CCM, the export volume of acephate in China decreased in April, 2019. However, the export price of acephate experienced a double-digit growth.

As it is demonstrated in the analysis data of import and export from Guangzhou CCM Information Science & Technology Co., Ltd. (CCM), 321 tonnes of acephate TC were exported from China in April, 2019. A dramatic decline by 78.82% was obviously seen this year, compared with China’s export volume of acephate TC in the same month last year. Similarly, the export volume of acephate formulation also dropped sharply by 85.10% YoY, attributed to the fact that only 252 tonnes of acephate formulation were exported in April this year.

Generally speaking, there has been a significant decrease in the export volume of acephate TC and formulation by 82.13% YoY. The decrease is mostly due to the simultaneous dropping volume of both chemicals. On the contrary, the average export price of acephate TC and formulation went up totally by 8.75% YoY, respectively with acephate TC ascending by 11.64% and acephate formulation rising by 6.79%.

China restricts the utilization of acephate from 2017 by strict measures

Belonging to an oral insecticide, acephate, which is slow-acting, is usually used to protect crops from chewing and sucking pests and pest mites. The application of acephate is widely involved in vegetables, tea bushes, tobacco, fruit trees, cotton, rice, wheat and rapeseeds. Due to its characteristics of low toxicity and high efficiency, acephate emerged as an alternative to methamidophos, a highly toxic pesticide that has been out of markets. However, acephate creats degradation of metabolism while being used. What’s worse, humans and animals can be poisoned by acephate if it is kept and used in a wrong way.

In 2017, an announcement about the restriction of acephate and four other pesticides was made by the Department of Plantation Management, Chinese Ministry of Agriculture. After that, strict administrative measures were taken right away. It was reported that since August 1, 2017, applications for pesticide registration have been no longer valid in terms of acephate, carbosulfan and dimethoate in China. From the same date on, acephate, carbosulfan and dimethoate were banned being utilized in vegetables, fruits, tea bushes, fungus and herbs.

The pesticides involved in the restriction have been suffering from less demand in China. According to the statistics from China Pesticide Industrial Association, the market size of those pesticides have been shrunk to RMB 500 million until 2015, among which the terminal market size of acephate reached about RMB 210 million in China.

Europe, Brazil and New Zealand already executed restriction of acephate many years ago

The European Commission paid great attention to the impact that acephate exerted on human health and non-target organisms, especially birds and aquatic organisms. Hence, the commission approved that acephate was excluded from the EU Pesticide Registration Act.

In 2009, the Supervisory Office for sanitation in Brazil tried to ban using acephate in 15 kinds of crop, including potatoes, tangerines, chrysanthemums, peppers and tomatoes, after a toxicologist highly suggested that acephate should be stopped in the country. Apart from that, the office also suggested restricting the utilization of acephate in households and private gardens, so that the human intake of this chemical could be reduced from 0.03 mg/kg to 0.000 8 mg/kg per day.

In 2011, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) of New Zealand announced to expand inspection of pesticides. According to the EPA, acephate would be banned being used in private family gardens due to the fact that residents may fail to use acephate in a safe way because of their lack of professional equipment and relevant knowledge. 

For more information about China’s pesticides market, please check our monthly Insecticides China News.