ICAMA Implements Paraquat Restriction

Institute for the Control of Agrochemicals, Ministry of Agriculture, P.R. China (ICAMA) issued new regulations on paraquat registration in early June, 2012, in a move to follow the official decision to restrict paraquat SL in China, according to CCM International’s July issue of Herbicides China News.

On April 24, 2012, three Chinese governmental departments—the Ministry of Agriculture (MOA), the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) and the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine (AQSIQ) jointly proclaimed an announcement to restrict paraquat SL in consideration of "human safety in agricultural production". According to one term of the new regulations, all current product labels as well as all current registrations and production permits of paraquat SL products must be modified before Jan. 1, 2013, otherwise they will be cancelled as a result. (Herbicides China News 1205: China takes restriction on paraquat)

Specializing in nationwide pesticide registration and administration with the main responsibilities for registration, quality control, bioassay and residue monitoring of pesticides, supervision of pesticide markets, information-sharing, international cooperation and other services, in terms of paraquat registration, ICAMA drew up detailed administrative regulations as below:

1. All provincial institutes for the control of agrochemicals should immediately stop administrative acceptance and sanction on the field experiments and the application for registration of paraquat TK and paraquat SL (including single SL and mixed SL).

2. Paraquat SL manufacturers in China should update relevant registration certificates and permit labels before Oct. 31, 2012:

a) Paraquat SL manufacturers should provide the original registration certificate, the original label specimen, the substance label, as well as new label specimen, origin proof of TK, illustration of product composition, 24-hour first aid hotline, etc., when they apply the modification of paraquat registration;

b) Safety warning slogan should be featured in new paraquat SL label specimen with intense color contrast or large character size;

c) New label specimen should also include 24-hour first aid hotline. And the specialized 24-hour service of paraquat first aid should be provided by experienced medical personnel in the general hospital.

3. Those unmodified or unsanctioned paraquat labels will be cancelled and new paraquat products without new label will be forbidden to come on the market in China after Jan. 1, 2013.

4. Emetic, odor agents and colorant should be added into the paraquat TK products. And those paraquat TK manufacturers who want to own paraquat SL export qualification should apply for the paraquat SL export registration by modifying current SL registrations with their active TK and SL registration certificates and production permits after July 1, 2014, when all current registrations and production permits of paraquat SL and mixed paraquat SL will be cancelled in China except the export ones.

5. Others:

a) Paraquat TK source of SL manufacturers should be relatively stable, and must be checked by ICAMA if the TK source changes;

b) Paraquat SL manufacturers should ensure that current old-labelled paraquat will be withdrawn from circulation in China after Dec. 31, 2013, and new-labelled paraquat will also be withdrawn from Chinese market after July 1, 2016, when all products of paraquat SL are forbidden to sell and apply in China. The SL products are recommended to be packed in plastic bottles with thin bottleneck in the future so that the liquid outflow time can be prolonged. It's necessary to make a record of material purchase, production and sales, and the finished paraquat SL should be companied with instruction, first aid booklet and active carbon;

c) Provincial institutes for the control of agrochemicals should aggressively promote and implement the decision about paraquat restriction. And examinations and checks will be implemented by ICAMA and relevant governmental departments in the future.

(Relative background and details about the official decision of paraquat restriction in China were mentioned in Herbicides China News 1205: China takes restriction on paraquat; other relative discussions were reported in Herbicides China News 1202, 1206.)

Source: Herbicides China News 1207

http://www.cnchemicals.com/Newsletter/NewsletterDetail_11.html

Content of Herbicides China News 1207:

ICAMA implements paraquat restriction

Key regulations for pesticide industrial integration in China

Great expectation on Yangnong Chemical in 2012

Lier Chemical confirms relocation of Jiangsu Kuaida

Hisun Chemical plans new pesticide plant

Shangyu Nutrichem boosts its pesticide productivity

Semi-annual review of herbicide industry in China

Chinese acetochlor export remains unaffected by the EU restriction

Metolachlor should meet nice prospect in China

Tianyi Agrochemical runs pilot production of HGE herbicide

… …

Herbicides China News, a monthly publication issued by CCM International on 15^th of every month, provides you with the latest occurrences, exclusive analysis on the market trend as well as professional reviews on competitiveness of companies, products and relative industries in China’s herbicide industry.

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 all through its new proprietary product ValoTracer.

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

CCM International Ltd.
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

Source : http://www.cnchemicals.com/PressRoom/PressRoomDetail_w_1138.html

China Takes Restriction on Paraquat

CCM International have published the May Issue of Herbicides China News recently, focusing on paraquat restriction. Regarding whether paraquat will be restricted in China, on April 24, 2012, three Chinese governmental departments including the Ministry of Agriculture (MOA), Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) and General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine (AQSIQ) jointly released an official announcement in response, that all paraquat SL is demanded to be withdrawn from the whole Chinese market after July 1, 2016. Accordingly, a series of relative detailed measures are mentioned in the announcement so as to back up this decision of paraquat restriction in China:

1. From April 24, 2012, China will stop approving new manufacturers of paraquat technical and formulation, stop accepting new applications of field experiment, registration and production permits for paraquat products (covering TK, SL and mixed SL), and stop sanctioning new registrations and production permits for paraquat products (covering TK, SL and mixed SL).

2. After July 1, 2014, all current registrations and production permits of paraquat SL and mixed paraquat SL will be canceled in China, except those in paraquat TK manufacturers for paraquat export to overseas market. And all products of paraquat SL are forbidden to sell and apply in China after July 1, 2016.

3. Rechecking all product labels and modifying all registrations and production permits according to the new standard. In detail, new standard demands that paraquat label should additionally include some key information such as first aid hotline and caution, and all registrations should additionally cover relative information of technical manufacturers such as manufacturer name. Thus, the unqualified new paraquat in label, registration or production permit is forbidden to come into the market after Jan. 1, 2013, and old paraquat registrations and production permits will also be canceled in the meantime. As to current paraquat products with old labels can be sold only before Dec. 31, 2013.

4. Current paraquat manufacturers in China must produce eligible paraquat products, which should be compounded with emetic, odor agents, colorant and so forth.

5. Paraquat manufacturers in China should enhance after-sale services including application instruction and first aid of poisoning. A series of protection methods in package such as thin bottleneck of paraquat bottle and medical active carbon are encouraged.

It can be observed that the restriction on paraquat of Chinese government was triggered directly by the suggestion from chemical experts of UN that paraquat dichlorid should be subject to the Prior Informed Consent (PIC) Procedure of The Rotterdam Convention, which was mentioned in March 2011. And this suggestion has already witnessed examination from Evaluation Committee of The Rotterdam Convention, and will be checked by the conference of contracting party in 2013. It means that paraquat will probably face the risk of being listed into PIC, which will impact on the circulation of paraquat in the world. (Herbicides China News 1109: Worries about paraquat aroused in China)

Coupled with the examination process in The Rotterdam Convention, China decided to restrict paraquat in domestic market, also considering its fatal poisoning trait as well as the future industrial development direction. As expected by Chinese government these years, pesticide market in China should be healthy, sustainable and people-oriented, rather than of overcapacity, stiff competitiveness and severe homogenization.

In the respect of industrial development in Chinese paraquat market, the restriction on paraquat in China will push the industrial integration to some degree, which is managed by the government currently in order to tackle overcapacity and severe homogenization in domestic pesticide market. In detail, weak small paraquat manufacturers who only aim at domestic market will be washed out, and the leading paraquat enterprises whose targets cover overseas market can stay to enjoy a potential easy circumstance. In other words, the future paraquat production in China is expected to centralize in strong paraquat players who own self-exported capacity, and the excess or weak paraquat capacity in China will be cut off in the meantime. It will be a good prospect for current Chinese paraquat industry, but the large Chinese market will also be shocked by paraquat restriction in the meantime.

In terms of current domestic paraquat market where paraquat LS is the major product category, the restriction on SL will make a large market gap if the proper substitutes can't appear in time. As a non-selective herbicide with so many years' promotion, paraquat has witnessed fast development in the past decades in China, and has been playing an increasingly important role in weed control of orchards, corn fields, no-tillage fields and mulberry fields. In accordance with CCM International's survey, the output of China's paraquat formulations has grown very fast from more than 40,000 tonnes in 2006 to nearly 80,000 tonnes in 2010, with the average annual growth rate of 20%, which is mainly attributed to the rapid growth of domestic and overseas demand for paraquat during this period.

Even though liquid paraquat formulation can be changed to non-liquid paraquat formulation, such as solid paraquat or powder-like paraquat, which haven't been listed into Chinese governmental restriction, the objective truth is that it will take lots of financial and human resources to develop the alternative formulations of paraquat in China and it will also take a long cycle to meet the outcome.

Of course, in a broader scope, other herbicides such as diquat also can be considered as substitutes. However, in consideration of characteristics about efficiency, residue, application cost and so forth, it seems that paraquat is the best of all contact-killing herbicides for the time being.

As to those potential survivors in Chinese paraquat revolution, they will also encounter large challenges in exploration of overseas market because frequent trade frictions and potential influence of The Rotterdam Convention will repress paraquat export further in a manner compared with the situation in the past. In fact, in the world, some countries such as Sweden, Denmark, Hungary and so forth are resistant to the paraquat application very much. Such resistance may upgrade if paraquat dichlorid is listed into PIC, and further impact on other original paraquat importers' decisions in the future trade.

At any rate, facing the restriction on paraquat in China, what paraquat players need to do at present is the timely strategic adjustment or effective product research. In fact, it can be said that the governmental restriction on paraquat in China is helpful indirectly for those aggressive enterprises with strong competitiveness.

(CCM International has already taken an interview about paraquat restriction in China with Syngenta, the largest paraquat manufacturer in the world. In the interview, Syngenta expressed its exclusive viewpoints. Please pay closely attention to the next issue of Herbicides China News)

Source: Herbicides China News 1205

http://www.cnchemicals.com/Newsletter/NewsletterDetail_11.html

Content of Herbicides China News 1205:

ChemChina runs asset reorganization in Sanonda

Asset exchange proceeds in Shandong Dacheng

Huapont invests in Wanquan Hongyu and Wanquan Kaidi

China takes restriction on paraquat

Jiangsu Huifeng promotes waste treatment

Noposion's net profit slipped by 25.24% in 2011

Jiangsu Repont prepares for relocation

Bispyribac-sodium registrations increase in Q1 2012

CS herbicides keep immature in China

Haloxyfop-R-methyl meets slow project in Jiangsu Weier

No acetochlor supplies in Shandong Zhongshi now

Good Harvest-Weien prepares glufosinate-ammonium and 2,4-D

Supply dynamics of pure pyridine in China of Q1 2012

Trifluralin meets price slip

… …

Herbicides China News, a monthly publication issued by CCM International on 15^th of every month, provides you with the latest occurrences, exclusive analysis on the market trend as well as professional reviews on competitiveness of companies, products and relative industries in China’s herbicide industry.

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 all through its new proprietary product ValoTracer.

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

CCM International Ltd.
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

Source: http://www.cnchemicals.com/PressRoom/PressRoomDetail_w_1080.html

China to Further Restrict Paraquat

On 24 April, 2012, the Ministry of Agriculture of China (MOA) issued an announcement, namely Announcement No. 1745, deciding to take restrictive measures on the production and sales of paraquat, aiming to ensure the safety of production and use of paraquat in China, based on CCM International’s latest issue of Crop Protection China News.

According to the announcement, the Chinese government will stop the approval of new plants for paraquat TK and formulation processing. The application for new field trial, registration and production permit will be ceased. The approval of registration and production permit of paraquat TK and aqueous products will also be terminated.

The registration and production permit of paraquat aqueous products will be revoked and all the production of these products shall be terminated from 1 July, 2014 , only maintaining the registration and production of paraquat aqueous products for export and use in foreign countries. From 1 July, 2016, policies of the all-out ban on the sales and use of paraquat aqueous products in China will be fully carried out.

Aiming to ensure the safe use of paraquat and provide a better after-sale service for poisoning treatment, several measures are proposed in the announcement to protect the users.

Emergency treatment telephone number and warnings shall be added in an eye-catching position of the labels on the products. Pesticide registration license and pesticide production permit document shall also be re-checked and added up the content of the name of paraquat TK production enterprise. Pesticide companies shall finish all these tasks before 1 Jan., 2013. Those products with initial labels which are already on sale are allowed to be sold until 31 Dec., 2013.

Moreover, the announcement requests paraquat producers to add in sufficient quantity of emetic, stench and colorant into their products. Providing good after-sale services such as use guide and poisoning treatment are also encouraged.

Although the rumor of banning paraquat has been spreading in China since the 4th China High-Level Forum on Pesticides held on 23 to 24 Sept., 2011, the release of the announcement still surprised many people in China. They believed that medium and small sized paraquat producers will suffer greatly, but those large ones will gain benefit.

"As most of the medium and small sized paraquat producers are technical suppliers of domestic formulation enterprises, their domestic market share will be lost after the ban on paraquat AS. But for those large enterprises, such as Nanjing Redsun Co., Ltd. (Nanjing Redsun) and Shandong Luba Chemical Co., Ltd. whose paraquat products are mainly produced for export will not be much affected," said Wei Ping, Product Manager of Nanjing Redsun.

Despite those enterprises will be affected by the ban on paraquat AS, peasants' interests may also be largely impacted. As far as it is concerned, it is still a problem that no good substitute for paraquat AS has been found. Even if there will be some new kind of paraquat formulation found in the future, the price of the product will not be as cheap as that of paraquat AS. Whether domestic peasants are willing to undertake a higher cost of using higher-priced herbicides or not is still a problem.

Source: Crop Protection China News 1209

http://www.cnchemicals.com/Newsletter/NewsletterDetail_16.html

Content of Crop Protection China News 1209:

China to further restrict paraquat

China to support development of small-sized enterprises

Hubei Sanonda's reorganization plan released

Huapont to acquire 49% equities of Wanquan Hongyu

Zhejiang Wynca sees deficit in Q1 2012

CCPIA International Trade Committee founded

Pesticide formulation industry needs to make transformation

China to vigorously develop urban modern agriculture

Hunan runs pesticide industry base bigger and stronger

Crop Protection China News, a semimonthly publication issued by CCM International on 15th and 30th(31st) of every month, aims to gain a deep insight into Chinese market, supply the latest market data and strategy support, analyze the newest legislation and policy and grasp the future market trend.

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 all through its new proprietary product ValoTracer.

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

CCM International Ltd.
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

Source: http://www.cnchemicals.com/PressRoom/PressRoomDetail_w_1070.html

Banning Paraquat Raises Dispute in China

According to the information from the 4th China High-Level Forum on Pesticides held on Sept. 23 to 24, 2011, the Ministry of Agriculture (MOA) will take measures to further restrict and forbid the use of paraquat and some other highly toxic pesticides in the near future, based on CCM’s latest issue of Crop Protection China News.

Though it is not a piece of new information in China, it is the first time for Chinese government to officially announce the restriction and forbidding of the use of paraquat.

As people are shocked by the official statement, dispute is raised in and out of domestic pesticide industry. As a non-selective herbicide, paraquat is largely used to control weeds in the fields of fruit, mulberry, rubber, corn, sugarcane, soybean, etc. Although it is featured by high efficient and low price, it is also famous for its high toxicity to human beings and animals. Once being poisoned, especially by oral intake, it is incurable.

Eyeing more than 5,000 people die annually from the poisoning caused by paraquat, many medical workers propose legislating against the use of paraquat in the National People's Congress. As more and more foreign countries have added paraquat into their ban lists, the voice of forbidding the use of paraquat in China has been even louder in the past two years.

However, most of domestic pesticide enterprises and dealers hold different opinions over the forbidding use of paraquat.

With years' development, China has become the largest paraquat producer in the world with the production capacity of paraquat TK reaching 152,500t/a in 2010. The total output of paraquat 42% TK reached 122,000 tonnes in 2010 with the operating rate of 80.0%, compared with 72.4% in the previous year.

As of April 2011, 553 paraquat registration applications from 272 enterprises, both temporary and formal, have been approved in China, including 63 for technical, 483 for single formulations and seven for mixed formulations.

Thus, once paraquat is forbidden, these pesticide players will suffer greatly. As a matter of fact, they will fight to delay the release and implementation of the policy to ban the use of paraquat.

"Domestic apparent consumption of paraquat formulations was 31,256 tonnes (calculated by 200g/L AS) in 2010. And obviously it is hard to find a substitute to replace it. Once it is forbidden, pesticide market will be affected greatly. Actually, it will do little harm to the environment and health of human being if the herbicide is used safely," said Mr. Yu, a district manager from Shandong Luba Chemical Co., Ltd. "Actually, there is a better way to decrease the happening of paraquat poisoning, which is to change the dominant formulation of paraquat AS into DP or ointment."

However, some insiders believe that the announcement from the 4th China High-Level Forum on Pesticides is just a statement of Chinese government to declare its attitude towards highly toxic pesticides. Banning paraquat or not is still can't be nailed down and the implementation of the policy is still beyond expectation. If government carries out the policy, the worst condition of paraquat in the near future is that the use on several fruit or crops may be forced to be banned. The all-out ban on the product in China may still have a long way to go.

Source: Crop Protection China News 1119

http://www.cnchemicals.com/Newsletter/NewsletterDetail_16.html

(Guangzhou China, October 18, 2011)

Content of Crop Protection China News 1119:

Banning paraquat raises dispute in China

Rising pesticide resistance bothers domestic pesticide industry

Heavy metal seriously pollute domestic farmland

Jiangsu Huifeng to expand in fluorine industry

Hubei Sanonda predicts good performance in Q3

Syngenta extends collaboration with SIOC, CAS

Glyphosate price rises but profit stays

China's mancozeb industry faces severe challenges

Crop Protection China News, a semimonthly publication issued by CCM International on 15th and 30th(31st) of every month, aims to gain a deep insight into Chinese market, supply the latest market data and strategy support, analyze the newest legislation and policy and grasp the future market trend.

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