Generics dominate the top 20 pesticides by sales worldwide, with $70.2 billion in 2022

According to the latest data from the Crop Protection Federation of India (CCFI), the share of generic pesticides in the global pesticide market has reached a record high, accounting for 93% of the market share, while the market share of patented pesticides is only 7%. This data is provided by S&P Global, the world's leading agri-business analyst.

In 2022, the total sales of the global pesticide market was $75.5 billion, of which the sales of generic pesticides were as high as $70.2 billion, while the sales of patented pesticides were only $5.3 billion. The main reason for this phenomenon is that many newly launched chemical pesticides (patented pesticides) have failed to achieve the expected success in the market.

Back in 2010, 10 new active ingredients were commercially launched. By 2022, however, the total sales of these new active ingredients will be just $486 million, a figure that pales in comparison to the $75.5 billion of the overall market.

Conventional pesticides have been used on cash crops for many years to control pests and diseases. With the shortage of labor, the field of herbicides has also developed, and its application to cotton, rice, wheat, soybeans and other crops has brought convenience to agricultural operations.

Further analysis showed that among the 20 active ingredients, generic herbicides accounted for the highest proportion of sales, reaching 55%, followed by generic fungicides, accounting for 24%, and generic insecticides ranked last with 21% of sales.

The dominance of generic pesticides in the global pesticide market is of economic importance not only for India but globally, as they are also export-intensive products that bring valuable foreign exchange earnings to the country.