Yongnong: Focusing on Glufosinate-ammonium for 20 years, taking the lead in the layout of Glufosinate-p

Yongnong has been focusing on the field of agrochemical for 30 years with the business philosophy of excellent quality, advanced technology and great technology service. The company is committed to building a complete agrochemical industry chain and becoming a global leader in the manufacture and service provider of agrochemical products.

Q:  Yongnong has entered the top100 sales list of pesticide industry in China for years. Could you say something about how to deal with the changeable pesticide industry? What are the key measures to maintain your solid increase?

A: Up to the end of September, Yongnong’s sales revenue has exceeded ¥4.5 billion and is expected to exceed ¥5 billion by this December.  In the past three years, Yongnong has a rapid development which is mainly due to the growth brought by the production of Glufosinate-ammonium and Diquat, of course, the high price of herbicide in recent years is also one of the important factors. Facing the changes of agricultural in these years, Yongnong give full play to the location advantage of Ningxia factory to develop the herbicide product, and continuously enrich the technical categories of Shangyu factory, strengthening the company’s ability to resist risks on the level of technical diversification. At the same time, we gained greater market competitiveness in the cost and quality of Glufosinate-ammonium. In the next few years, Yongnong will continue to increase investment in technical categories, increase the market share of insecticides and fungicides while expanding herbicides, and ensure steady business growth.

Q: It is well known that Yongnong has a great reputation in the industry. What has the company done in terms of product quality control and brand building?

A: As we all know that Yongnong has been focusing on agrochemical for 30 years with its special business philosophy. And we also created some famous brands.

Excellent quality is the foundation of the brand. The company has an independent QA/QC module for product quality control, in accordance with the ISO9001 system of raw material, formula, equipment, packaging, storage and transportation of standardized control, to ensure that in line with the product standards in China and overseas markets.

The “last mile” of agrochemical products has a strong technical demand. Yongnong has developed and formed a professional marketing team of nearly 200 people since its establishment. We always take "demonstration experiment, farmers' meeting, store promotion" as the focus of market brand building.

Technological innovation is the essence of brand vitality. Taking the product line of herbicidal products as an example, from Tornado^® in the era of Paraquat, to Brachyton^® in the era of Glufosinate, and then to Golden Brachyu^® in the era of Glufosinate-p, Yongnong has gradually realized the leap from "imitation" to "independent innovation". Yongnong brand has also become more and more wonderful in the market.

Q: Innovation is the driving force of enterprise development. What is the status of R&D innovation in the company? What are the typical achievements of product technology innovation?

A: Yongnong is a high-tech enterprise focusing on R&D investment and talent training. It has established Hangzhou R&D Center and Shangyu R&D Center, and maintains long-term good cooperation with Zhejiang University, East China University of Science and Technology, Zhejiang University of Technology. From 2021 to 2022, the company applied for 18 domestic and international invention patents, and the cost of new product registration exceeded ¥100 million. The project of “Glufosinate-p Green Bio-manufacturing Technology and Application" of the company has passed the scientific and technological achievement appraisal of China Petroleum Chemical Federation. The project developed a new process of multi-enzyme cascade biocatalyzation for the production of Glufosinate-p, which is a successful example of bio-manufacturing for the production of pesticide varieties. The company has built the world's first biotechnology production line with an annual output of 5,000 tons of Glufosinate-p. Large-scale biological production of Glufosinate-p is the first in the world, which strongly promotes industrial upgrading and has significant economic and social benefits.

Q：In recent years, the overseas business of Yongnong has developed rapidly. This year, the conflict between Russia and Ukraine has rocked the world, and the trend of "anti-globalization" is still rising. Will the overseas market of Yongnong be affected? How was it resolved?

A：Changes in the international landscape have more or less affected the business of Yongnong. For example, the conflict between Russia and Ukraine has a great impact on the company's business in Eastern Europe. Compared with the same period last year, the sugar beet business has declined by about 50%. However, on the whole, the international situation has limited impact on the growth of the company's business, which is mainly due to the company's emphasis on overseas registration. For example, in Brazil, there are more than 40 registrations in the past three years, which has largely driven the increase of business. At the same time, the business layout in Southeast Asia has taken shape. For example, in 2022, the company was the first to obtain the registration of Glufosinate-p in Vietnam, which laid a solid foundation for the sustainable development of overseas business. In addition, strengthening cooperation with leading multinational companies is also the main reason for business increase, such as the cooperation of Diquat dibromide with ADAMA and Syngenta in Brazil.

Q:Yongnong has been deeply engaged in the field of agrochemical for many years, Please talk about the development and changes of the journey over these years.

A: When it comes to the development of Glufosinate in China, Yongnong took the lead in developing Glufosinate in 2002, which has been nearly 20 years. In 2007, our company launched 200g/l Glufosinate  SL and It took 7 years for the domestic sales to exceed ¥100 million from 0, which was also a very difficult period. However, we always believe that Glufosinate will have a future and become a big product. In 2009, the company started to cooperate with Meiji on the chemical synthesis of Glufosinate-p. By the end of March 2013, the pilot test of the chemical method was completed and put into production. Considering the cost pressure of the chemical route at that time, the company began to explore the biological fermentation route of Glufosinate-p in 2015, and finally successfully developed and launched the bio-glyphosate product Jinbaisu in 2020(10% Glufosinate-p SL). Because of its better effect and lower cost, it is believed that it will have greater market potential.