Summary: In February and March 2025, the herbicide market price index fell, and some products fluctuated in price due to the game of supply and demand. Bio-pesticides are on the rise, China's exports of glyphosate and other products are increasing, demand for new products is on the rise, and AI is helping precision agriculture. Internationally, regional production capacity is differentiated, patent expiration of glufosinate and other products led to a wave of imitations, and new products launched by UPL and Cordova brought new changes to the market.
In February and March 2025, the price index of herbicide market showed a downward trend.
On February 23, the price index of herbicide raw material of CNALIH was 78.86 points, down 10.1% year-on-year, and down 0.52% compared with the previous month; on March 2, the index dropped to 78.08 points, and the year-on-year drop expanded to 10.8%, and the month-on-year drop was 1.51%. In terms of price, most products remained stable, but some products were affected by the game of supply and demand, and there were price fluctuations.
The price of glufosinate ammonium raw drug was quoted at RMB 47,000 per ton, the price of glyphosate raw drug, mainly exported, was quoted at RMB 23,000 per ton, and the price of diquat parent drug was quoted at RMB 17,500 per ton.
Among the herbicides in corn field, atrazine quoted at RMB 26,000/ton, nitroxsulfuron quoted at RMB 87,000/ton, nicosulfuron quoted at RMB 170,000/ton, and cyclo-sulfuron quoted at RMB 300,000/ton due to the market demand increment.
The rise of biopesticides: driven by the concept of environmental protection, the rapid development of biological herbicides, such as Bacillus thuringiensis and other biological agents, as well as anti-glyphosate and other genetically modified ancillary products market share steadily increased. It is expected that the use of biopesticides will increase by 3%-5% year-on-year in 2025.
Export advantage: China occupies an important position in the global herbicide market by virtue of its complete industrial chain. The export output of glyshosate, glufosinate and other bulk products continues to grow, and the export output of glyphosate is expected to exceed 600,000 tons in 2025, accounting for more than 40% of the global market share.
Rise of new products: high efficiency and low toxicity new herbicides such as flusulfenoxam and pyrazoloquinoxate are favored by the market, and the demand is surging, and it is expected that the market size will increase by 15%-20% in 2025.
Integration of AI and precision agriculture: plant protection drones have applied medicine over 3 billion mu times, combined with AI pest monitoring system, it can grasp the situation of farmland in real time, promote the use of herbicides to improve efficiency by 20%, and reduce the cost of medicine and environmental pollution.
Regional differentiation: North America and the Middle East rely on shale gas, ethane and other low-cost raw materials to expand production capacity; China consolidates its export position by virtue of the advantages of the whole industrial chain, with cost-effective products, stable supply, and competitive in the international market.
Patent expiration and imitation: patents of core products such as glufosinate-ammonium are expiring one after another, Chinese and Indian enterprises are accelerating imitation, and a large number of low-priced imitation products are flooding into the market, which impacts the market share of original pharmaceutical enterprises and intensifies the competition in the market.
At Show Rural Coopavel 2025 in Brazil, UPL announced the launch of Thunder, a new herbicide whose active ingredient, sulfentrazone, can effectively prevent and eliminate a variety of hard-to-control weeds in the pre-planting and pre-emergence stages of soybeans, and is currently in the final stage of product registration.
During the same period, Cordova launched Enlist Colex-D, a herbicide with new 2,4-D salts and an innovative formulation that reduces drift potential by up to 90% when used in conjunction with air-induced sprays, from pre-emergence to post-emergence in Enlist soybean varieties.
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