Product registration situation and future trend of Lime sulfur in China

Lime sulfur, which belongs to an inorganic sulfur fungicide, is mainly used in citrus trees, apple trees, grapes, apricots, walnut trees, pear trees, tea trees, wheat and other crops to cure fungal diseases caused by ascomycetes, such as powdery mildew caused by citrus trees, apple trees, walnut trees, grapes, wheat and ornamental plants. And Psylla chinensis, scale insect and some insect eggs have significant activity.

The Lime sulfur has the function of sterilization and killing mites (insects). After spraying, it can erode the thick waxy layer of insects. At the same time, the sulfur particles generated can inhibit the growth of bacteria, so as to eliminate or reduce the stress of pests and diseases on crops, so as to increase the yield of crops.

(1) The overall registration of inorganic sulfur fungicides in China 

Inorganic sulfur fungicides are a kind of selective fungicides widely used in agriculture, which can control fungal diseases, overwintering scale insects and insect eggs, and have long become the most common protective fungicides used in the world. As of June 8, 2024, there were a total of 326 inorganic sulfur biocides in the registered validity period in China, involving 2 common varieties, of which Lime sulfur products accounted for about 8.28% of the total number of inorganic sulfur biocides.

(2) China's Lime sulfur product registration status 

As of June 9, 2024, there are 27 domestic registered Lime sulfur products within the validity period, all of which are formulations; 24 low toxic products, 3 medium toxic products; 12 fungicides, 9 insecticides, 5 acaricides/fungicides, and 1 acaricide; There were 27 PD pesticides and 0 EX pesticides.

From the registered number, there are 26 single doses and 1 mixed agent (Lime sulfur and mineral oil). On December 9, 1988, Tianjin Pesticide Co., Ltd. was the first to obtain the official registration of Lime sulfur  formulations, and the registered product was 29% AS. The number of formulations registrations generally showed a slow rise. The peak time of registration was from 2008 to 2010, with 18 registered products, and the product registration was adjusted back from 2011 to 2013 and 2015 to 2017. Only 1 product was registered in 2018, and no formulation products were registered after 2019.

From the perspective of registered formulations, there are 3 types of formulations, the largest number of registered AS， there are 17 products, accounting for 62.96%, the number of registered products of post-crystallized powder (crystal) and ME, respectively, are 9 and 1.

From the perspective of registered crops, Lime sulfur products are registered in 9 crops, and the number of registered products in citrus trees is 25, which has an absolute leading position, accounting for 41.66%. The number of registered products is followed by 17 apple trees (apples), accounting for 28.33%, followed by 6 tea trees, 5 wheat, 2 ornamental plants and 2 grapes. Apricot, walnut and pear trees are 1. Among them, some Lime sulfur production enterprises have registered on citrus trees, walnut trees, apple trees, tea trees, grapes, ornamental plants, wheat, some Lime sulfur production enterprises have registered on citrus trees, apple trees, tea trees, wheat, Lime sulfurr and mineral oil production enterprises have registered on citrus trees, pear trees, and so on.

From the point of view of registered control objects, Lime sulfur was registered in 17 control objects, of which apple (apple) powdery mildew registration number is 13, followed by citrus tree red spider 8, citrus tree scale worm 6, followed by Phyllocoptruta oleivora and wheat powdery mildew 5, each. There were 4 citrus tree mites, 4 apple leaf mites and 4 tea leaf mites, 2 tea tree red spider and 2 grape powdery mildew, 1 citrus tree powdery mildew, 1 arrowhead scales and powdery mildew, 1 scale insect, 1 walnut powdery mildew and 1 pear psylla.

From the perspective of registered production enterprises, there are a total of 20 production enterprises of Lime sulfur formulations within the validity period, which are domestic production enterprises, distributed in 8 provinces (autonomous regions) in China, of which the number of enterprises in Sichuan Province and Shandong Province tied for the first place, with 4 each, accounting for 20% each; The number of enterprises in Hebei (3), Shaanxi (3), Hubei (2), Tianjin (2) and other regions exceeds 1

Summary and prospect 

From the perspective of the registration trend of formulation products, compared with the registration of mixed products, the registration of Lime sulfur products shows a gentle growth trend. In particular, from 2008 to 2010, the number of registered single agent products of Lime sulfur was 17, accounting for 62.96% of the total number of single agents, and the average annual registration number was 5.

Lime sulfur has no cross-resistance with the existing registered insecticides (mites), and is an important agent for the control of diseases and pests in the plant protection market. At present, the registered Lime sulfur products are mainly used in apricots, citrus trees, walnut trees, pear trees, apple trees, tea trees, grapes, ornamental plants, wheat, and the main object of control is a very small part of fungal diseases and pests. For watermelon, cantaloupe, pumpkin, loofah, peach tree, persimmon tree, bayberry, sugarcane, rape, cabbage, eggplant, water stem, coptis, begonia, rose, rose, tobacco, poplar, willow, mulberry, cotton, alfalfa, lawn and other crop disease and pest control, Lime sulfur and its mixture has certain development potential, the market prospect is broad

To sum up, as a protective product integrating the prevention and control of fungi and pests (mites), the future market of Lime sulfur is bound to continue to be favored by scientific research institutions, pesticide production enterprises, fruit farmers, food and agriculture, tea farmers, flower farmers, especially the social plant protection and control service team. With the increase of product registration documents, the expansion of the range of applied crops, the development of new formulations, the development of mixed products, and the expansion of control objects, the Lime sulfur and its mixed formulations have good development and utilization value in the future plant protection market, and the future development prospect is promising.

With the coloring period of grapes (about July), the fruit setting period of citrus trees to the fruit harvesting period (about July to October), the fruit expanding period of pear trees (about early July to late August), the middle and late period of summer tea growth of tea trees (about mid-July to early August), and the sowing period of wheat (about winter wheat in October), The arrival of spring wheat about March of the next year, apple dormant period (about November), apricot tree dormant period (about November), winter barley filling period (about April of the next year) will have a certain demand for fungicides or pull, when the stone sulfur mixture and its compounding products will have a certain market share.