Carbofuran faces elimination! It is suggested that relevant pesticide enterprises layout alternative products in advance

The MARA recently announced at a national conference that it plans to ban four highly toxic pesticides, including Omethoate, Aldicarb, Carbofuran and Methomyl, in 2023. According to the 2-year shelf life of general pesticide products, if there is no accident, the above four highly toxic pesticides will be officially eliminated by the end of 2025. However, once Carbofuran is completely discontinued, there will be a large vacancy in the soybean seed treatment agent market, which needs to be filled by new alternative products.

According to the China Pesticide Information Network, by the end of December 2022, there were 58 soybean seed treatments effectively registered in China, among which 27 contained Carbofuran, accounting for 46.6% of the total, nearly half of the country. However, in the seed treatment products of corn, cotton, wheat, peanut and other crops registered at present, the proportion containing Carbofuran is generally low, which is less affected by the elimination of Carbofuran (except beet).

 The ingredient of soybean seed treatment formulation is mainly used for the control of underground pests. The control of underground pests can be replaced by Chlorpyrifos, Carbosulfan and lambda-cyhalothrin.

 In 2022, China achieved remarkable results in soybean planting expansion, with the planting area reaching 154 million mu, a year-on-year increase of 27.43 million mu and the highest since 1958 (the planting area was 191 million mu in 1957).

 The MARA held a meeting of the director of the National Department of Agriculture and Rural Affairs on January 18, stressed that in 2023, all regions should continue to vigorously expand soybean oil, make overall arrangements for grains, expand soybean and corn belt composite planting in suitable areas, and expand the area with multiple oil to increase production, to ensure that more than 10 million mu of soybean oil is replanted.

Therefore, in the future, the market prospect of soybean pesticide will continue to be promising for a long time, and the seed treatment, which is the first key of disease and insect control, is more promising. 

Enterprises should seize the opportunity, layout in advance, carry out the registration of new high-efficiency and low-risk soybean seed treatments, and strive to ensure the bumper harvest of Chinese soybeans, while occupying a larger market share.