Guangxi: rice acreage shrinks and competition rises among seed suppliers

Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region (Guangxi), a major agricultural region located in the southern border of China, has seen an overall decline of rice acreage in the past few years. The shrinking rice acreage is primarily owing to its unsatisfactory plant efficiency. The depressed purchase price under the impact of large rice imports from Vietnam has hurt the local farmers' enthusiasm for rice planting, according to Seed China News 1309 issued by CCM in September.

 

Eyeing at higher plant efficiency, a number of farmers give up rice planting and turn to other crops, such as sugarcane, corn, mulberry and eucalyptus, or change the double cropping of rice per year into single cropping per year.

Despite the shrinking acreage of rice in Guangxi, the hybrid rice seed market, especially the late-season rice seed market, still attracts rice seed players both inside and outside Guangxi. Due to the special location, the sales season of late-season rice seeds in Guangxi is usually at the mid of June every year, much later than that in northern regions, which provides a separate market for rice seed players.

 

There are quite abundant rice varieties in Guangxi market and the competition is increasingly intense.

 

Some excellent rice varieties, such as Y Liangyou1, Shenliangyou5814 and Zhongzheyou1 promoted by rice seed players outside Guangxi have occupied a leading position in Guangxi market. Compared with adventive rivals, local rice seed suppliers are generally weak in sales and breeding capacity, but there are still some excellent varieties bred by local agricultural institutes recognized in the market, such as Teyou582 and Yexiangyou9.

 

Hybrid rice seeds are in the state of excess supply in Guangxi. Revealed by Tang Zhongping, Deputy Director of Guangxi Seed Administration Bureau, the total demand for hybrid rice seeds was around 12 million kg in 2012 while the supply exceeded 17.80 million kg, with the supply and demand ratio hitting 1.48:1.

It is expected that the market share of high-quality rice varieties will have an uptrend in Guangxi. At present, growers are willing to plant rice varieties with soft, fragrant and good-tasting grain, instead of the simply high-yielding varieties. Actually, high quality already becomes the first requirement on a rice variety in Guangxi market.

Guangxi is one of the major rice planting regions in China, with rice acreage staying above 2 million ha. in recent years, about 60% of which is occupied by hybrid rice varieties. Based on geographical and climatic conditions, Guangxi rice planting is divided into four major areas, namely northern Guangxi, central Guangxi, southern Guangxi and highland areas. Overall, late-season rice makes up a large part in Guangxi, usually sowed around August every year.

Table of Contents of Seed China News 1309:

Henan Qiule begins sales of improved variety of Zhengdan958

Position of Jiangsu Dahua rising in seed industry

Dairy enterprises tend to engage in alfalfa planting

Status quo of corn planting and corn seed industry in Shanxi

TYLCV-resistant tomato: resistance declines under abnormal climates in early autumn

Guangxi: rice acreage shrinks and competition rises among seed suppliers

Pod pepper seed market sluggish in southern China

Hybrid corn variety Liangyu99 witnesses rapid growth in Northeast China

Wheat variety Huaimai33 bid at highest price among all wheat variety transactions in China

China's soybean import in Aug. 2013 sees 44.1% YoY growth

Seed China News, a monthly publication issued by CCM at the end of every month, mainly covers a diversity of topics, including market dynamic, company dynamic, crops, seed market, etc. With the latest news in seed industry and in-depth analysis on government direction and market competition, Seed China News can provide you with valid information which would help you make rational decisions in investment, production, marketing, etc.

About CCM

CCM is dedicated to market research in China, Asia-Pacific Rim and global market. With a staff of more than 150 dedicated highly-educated professionals, CCM offers Market Data, Analysis, Reports, Newsletters, Buyer-Trader Information, Import/Export Analysis, and Consultancy Service. 

For more information, please visit http://www.cnchemicals.com.

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17th Floor, Huihua Commercial & Trade Mansion, No.80 Xianlie Zhong Road, Guangzhou 510070, China

Tel: 86-20-37616606

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Registrations of thiamethoxam formulations soar in China

According to Insecticides China News 1309 issued by CCM, Recently, Syngenta is busy with the promotion of its thiamethoxam–based seed treatment product (Cruiser), by holding two Cruiser Vigor Forum in Guangdong and Shandong. The product's excellent performance and Syngenta's professional promotion work are very impressive. However, Syngenta will face intense competition from Chinese companies in its thiamethoxam business.

 

Besides thiamethoxam technical, many Chinese pesticide companies are actively registering thiamethoxam formulation products. By 16 July 2013, 48 thiamethoxam registrations had been approved in China, including 34 of formulations. Among the formulations registrations, 13 are from domestic companies.

The thiamethoxam formulations' registration at present is only the tip of the iceberg. It will soar in the coming one to two years. According to data from the Institute for the Control of Agrochemicals, Ministry of Agriculture (ICAMA), pesticide companies had filed 448 registration applications for thiamethoxam formulations in China, by 16 July 2013. 

 

Before 2010, registration application of thiamethoxam formulations in China was very small, usually less than ten each year. However, the application jumped to 72 in 2010 and 74 in 2011. In 2012, the application times even hit 151, up 104% year on year. This trend continued in 2013. By 16 July 2013, the application times had hit 110. 

 

It is very easy to understand the boom of registration application since 2010. Syngenta’s patent for thiamethoxam in China expires in 2013 and it takes two to three years for a company to register a pesticide formulation in China. As a result, many domestic companies started to file their registration applications in 2010, so that they may launch their thiamethoxam formulation products in 2013 or 2014.

The application for registrations of thiamethoxam formulations include 34 kinds of products. Thiamethoxam–single formulation is the most popular one, with the application times of 303, accounting for 67.63% of the total. Besides, the registration applications of some mixed formulations, such as thiamethoxam+pymetrozine, thiamethoxam+abamectin and thiamethoxam+lambda-cyhalothrin are also very popular. For other mixed formulations, their application times are less than ten. 

 

Most registration applications of the thiamethoxam formulations are targeted on many crops, but most of them are focusing on rice for the control of plant hopper. 

These registration applications of thiamethoxam formulations come from 209 companies. Almost all the big domestic pesticide formulations companies have filed registration application of thiamethoxam formulations. Five companies' registration application times exceed ten and the total registration application times of these companies hit 77, accounting for 17.19% of the total. 

  

Shaanxi Meibang Group is the most active company, with the registration application times of 21. The company tries to register thiamethoxam targeted on many kinds of crops, such as rice, wheat, corn, cotton, tea, vegetable and horticultural crops. 

With so many registration applications, it is believed that thiamethoxam formulations products will witness a blowout in domestic market in the coming two to three years. The potential for market disruptions of thiamethoxam formulations in domestic market is very high.

 

However, even for those companies that have filed registration applications, there are two opposite opinions. 

 

"We filed the registration application for thiamethoxam formulations in 2012, but we are not optimistic about the future of this product. The registration is just for the expansion of our product portfolio, and to meet more customers' needs," said an insider from Shanghai Lianbao Cropsciences Co., Ltd (Shanghai Lianbao). 

 

In fact, like Shanghai Lianbao, many companies are not optimistic about the future of these products, but they still try to register it. Many companies are just following others blindly. They register products that others are registering. 

 

But some companies' expectation for this product is very high. In their minds, the sales revenue of thiamethoxam is very huge and the application field is still expanding, so it is not hard to get a slice of cake. Besides, they believe that the Chinese government will not ban thiamethoxam easily like EU.

Table of Contents of Insecticides China News 1309:

Registrations of thiamethoxam formulations soar in China

Direct selling of pesticides: new exploration of pesticide marketing mode

Jiangsu Province issues subsidy list for biological pesticide in 2013

Biva enzyme: new way to solve problem of pesticide residues

Promotion of most botanical insecticides not good in China

Registrations for thiamethoxam TC and indoxacarb TC increase sharply in June and July

Dow Agrosciences launches sulfoxaflor in China

Guangxi Tianyuan upgrades to key laboratory of China in July 2013

Chinese insecticides import and export volume continue to increase in July

Situation of Mythimna separata in Northeast China to worsen

Chinese government allocates subsidy of USD79.2 million for crop disaster assistance

Insecticides China News, a monthly publication issued by CCM on 10^th, provides the latest and influential analysis on insecticide industry. Major contents include special report, company dynamics, market dynamics, supply and demand, price analysis, policy, raw material and intermediate.

About CCM

CCM is dedicated to market research in China, Asia-Pacific Rim and global market. With a staff of more than 150 dedicated highly-educated professionals, CCM offers Market Data, Analysis, Reports, Newsletters, Buyer-Trader Information, Import/Export Analysis, and Consultancy Service. 

For more information, please visit http://www.cnchemicals.com.

Guangzhou CCM Information Science & Technology Co., Ltd.
17th Floor, Huihua Commercial & Trade Mansion, No.80 Xianlie Zhong Road, Guangzhou 510070, China

Tel: 86-20-37616606

Email: econtact@cnchemicals.com