Pesticide intermediates: industry competition pattern and trend analysis

China is the world's main producer and supplier of pesticide fine chemical intermediates, and its development prospects are very broad. This article will discuss the development status, industry development characteristics, technical level and other dimensions of pesticide intermediates in my country.


Overview of the development of my country's pesticide intermediate industry

The production of the pesticide intermediate industry stems from the international division of labor in the context of economic globalization. Due to the complex production technology of pesticide products, lengthy process links and fast update speed, no enterprise can maintain a relative cost advantage in the entire R&D, production and sales links. Therefore, international multinational companies make full use of the mobility of global resources, reposition and allocate industrial chain resources, and focus their efforts on R&D and sales, while shifting production links in the industrial chain to countries with relative cost advantages and technological foundations (Such as China and India), followed by these countries have produced enterprises focused on intermediate production.

There are many kinds of pesticides. Pyridine is one of the most widely developed and applied varieties among heterocyclic compounds. Pyridine pesticides and intermediate products have broad application prospects and development potential. With the increase in the production of pyridine in my country, the supply of pyridine is no longer tight, which has created good conditions for the development and innovation of the downstream pyridine intermediates and pesticides and industrial applications. The chlorantraniliprole (Kang Kuan) invented by DuPont in the United States is currently one of the largest pesticide products in the world, and the compound patent of chlorantraniliprole expires in 2021, the product has a broad market in China air.


Industry development characteristics

Pesticide intermediates belong to the typical weak cyclic industry. Pesticide intermediates are greatly affected by downstream pesticides. Pesticides are mainly affected by weather and geographical environment, so they are weakly affected by economic cycles. The production of intermediates requires a wide variety of raw materials. The production process is long and the product itself does not have end uses. Therefore, it must be closely coordinated with the product manufacturer. Therefore, intermediate enterprises with similar properties or complementary to each other form industrial clusters in areas with sufficient raw material supply and close to downstream markets. At present, fine chemical enterprises mainly gather in areas with relatively developed supporting industries such as Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Shandong. So it is regional. The pesticide industry has obvious seasonal characteristics. Generally speaking, the first half of each year is the peak period of pesticide production, and March-September is the peak period of pesticide use. Correspondingly, considering the production cycle and the need to maintain inventory, the peak season for the production and sales of pesticide intermediates generally appears in the fourth quarter and the first quarter.


Industry technical level and technical characteristics

The pesticide intermediate industry is a knowledge-intensive and technology-intensive industry. Its products have the characteristics of many synthetic steps and long production process, and must have advanced process control technology and scientific and rigorous management. The research and development of an intermediate product, from product laboratory synthesis to small-scale, pilot-scale production and final large-scale production, requires the coordination and comprehensive application of multi-disciplinary knowledge, permeating various technologies and testing methods. In addition, the core competitiveness of intermediate product technology is reflected in the selection of chemical reaction processes, process control and the selection of core catalysts. Enterprises using different technologies differ greatly in production efficiency and product quality.

In recent years, the technical level of China's intermediate industry has been significantly improved in terms of independent innovation capability and international competitiveness. Some of the technical levels are close to the international advanced level. However, compared with foreign developed countries, the overall independent innovation capability still has obvious difference. At present, China's intermediate industry technology has the following characteristics: a. It has conventional intermediate production technology and good product quality; b. gradually changes from original imitation to independent innovation; c. begins to focus on clean production technology and circular economy The research and development of production technology focuses on popularizing and developing various unit reaction processes, such as continuous nitrification, hydrogenation reduction, sulfur trioxide sulfonation, membrane filtration, raw slurry drying, and multi-effect evaporation.


Analysis on the competition pattern and marketization degree of pesticide intermediate market

Pesticide intermediates differ from pesticide original medicine industry in their long development history and high concentration. They emerged after the 1990s. Multinational enterprises subdivide the production of final products into several value-added links, and then allocate them to different countries or regions according to the specific characteristics of different links to form an international division of labor in the production link. Due to the relatively short period of time for the international division of labor in the production link, the global intermediate industry is still clearly showing a relatively sufficient market competition pattern.

However, in the medium and long term, the concentration of the intermediate industry will gradually increase. First of all, in the future, the international production network of the pesticide industry will still be controlled by a very small number of multinational companies. Whether they can integrate into the international production network of multinational companies and then into the global industrial chain will become the prerequisite for the survival and development of intermediate manufacturers. Secondly, with the deepening of the internationalization of the production link, the intermediate suppliers will diverge in the international production network dominated by multinational companies, that is, the low-level suppliers only provide simple production of primary intermediate products, which is on the edge of the network. Competitive pressure and price pressure are the biggest, and the connection with the network is relatively loose, while high-level suppliers may maintain close contact with multinational companies, undertake the production tasks of intermediate products with higher knowledge content, and even carry out joint research and development with multinational companies. . Third, the level of the international production network is a dynamic process. Low-level suppliers at the edge of the network may also evolve to high-level suppliers. Many high-level suppliers have accumulated experience, market expansion, brand building and The enhancement of R&D capability gradually separated from the original network and became the new production network organizer.


New environmentally friendly pesticides will grow rapidly

With the transformation of the level and model of economic development, the environmental protection and food safety awareness of the whole society has been continuously strengthened, making the requirements and efforts of environmental protection governance increasingly higher. my country actively responds to the global ban on and control of high-toxic and high-risk pesticides, and accelerates the elimination of highly toxic, high-toxic, and high-residue pesticides. High-efficiency, low-toxic, and low-residue new environmentally friendly pesticides have become the industry's research and development focus and mainstream trend. Agro-pharmaceutical forms are developing in the direction of high efficiency and safety such as water-based, dust-free and controlled release. New formulations such as water-dispersible granules, suspending agents, water emulsions, and slow-controlled release agents have been accelerated to develop and promote. The promotion of high-efficiency, safe, economical and environmentally friendly new pesticide products will effectively promote the optimization and adjustment of the structure of pesticide products in my country, while meeting the needs of agricultural production and reducing the impact on the environment.


Increased R&D investment and further improvement of independent innovation system

Although my country has become a major producer of pesticides, the vast majority of pesticides are still imitations. Due to the small scale and weak strength of enterprises, they cannot support high-risk, high-input, and long-period pesticide independent innovation. The vast majority of companies' R&D investment accounts for less than 1% of sales revenue, and foreign innovative pesticide companies' R&D investment accounts for sales. The proportion is above 10% on average. According to the "Thirteenth Five-Year Plan for the Development of the Pesticide Industry", during the 13th Five-Year Plan, my country's pesticide industry's R&D investment accounted for more than 3% of its sales revenue. With the increase in the concentration of China's pesticide industry, the research and development investment of China's pesticide companies will be further increased, which will help companies improve their independent innovation capabilities and improve their independent innovation system, so that China's pesticide industry will shift to the direction of new drug creation and production of high-end products. Increasing the technological content and added value of pesticide products will drive the technological progress of China's pesticide industry and enhance its competitiveness.