The global crop protection chemicals market, which is a part of a wider crop protection market primarily includes: pesticides, micro-nutrients and adjuvants.
However, micro-nutrients, by definition and adjuvants by application are used in very minute quantities and hence constitute a minor share in the market. Thus, in general practice, the crop protection chemicals market is normally referred to as pesticides market, including both synthetic and bio-based pesticides.
Pesticides, which include both synthetic pesticides and bio-based pesticides, are the largest market segment owing to their wide-spread use in bulk quantities. Adjuvants are essentially pharmacological or immunological agents used to modify or enhance the effect of other vaccines and drugs. Pesticides can be manufactured in different ways using wide variety of raw materials. A pesticide essentially consists of an active ingredient coupled with inert ingredients or carriers. Inert ingredients are used in dust pesticides, which include vegetable matter such as ground up nut shells or corn cobs, clays such as diatomite or attapulgite, or powdered minerals such as talc or calcium carbonate as a base. The most common raw materials used for the manufacturing pesticides are chlorine, oxygen, sulfur, nitrogen, phosphorous, bromine, and phenol.
Major chemicals such as glyphosate (herbicide), atrazine (herbicide), chlorpyrifos (insecticide), and many others are constantly under review and face the risk of being phased out or outright banned if more environment-friendly alternatives are available. This report provides a comprehensive outlook on the global crop protection chemicals market with respect to various geographies, product types as well as applications.
The global market for crop protection chemicals, in terms of active ingredient volume was estimated at 2,434.5 kilo tons in 2010 and is expected to reach 2,937.7 kilo tons by 2016, growing at a CAGR of 3.2% from 2011 to 2016.
In terms of revenue, the market was estimated to be worth $42,470.4 million in 2010 and is expected to reach $58,433.5 million by 2016, growing at a CAGR of 5.3% from 2011 to 2016. Growth in revenue is expected to be higher than volume owing to the increasing cost of pesticides. Development and registration of a pesticide active ingredient is one of the biggest components of cost for a pesticide company. At present, the cost of innovation and registration of an active ingredient is around $200 million, which is a 25% increase from 2000.
North America and Europe were the leading consumers of pesticides, together accounting for over 55% of the market prior to 2005. However, constant regulatory push towards restricting the use of pesticides and increasing consumer awareness regarding the consequences of pesticide residues in food has resulted in a significant decline in demand growth in these regions.
Asia-Pacific, which has witnessed a steady demand for these chemicals in the recent years is now equal to North America and Europe in terms of consumption and is expected to surpass them sometime in the next five years. Increasing modernization of agriculture in India and China, both major global food exporters, is expected to drive the Asia-Pacific market in the near future.
Among all pesticides, herbicides form the largest segment and accounted for almost 42% share of the global pesticides market in 2010. Insecticides and fungicides formulate the second and third largest segment of the global pesticides market with 28% and 23% market share in 2010 respectively.
In terms of competition, the market is dominated by “innovators”, which are essentially companies having patented products in the market. Key innovators include Bayer CropScience (Germany), Dow Agrosciences (U.S.), Syngenta (Switzerland), BASF (Germany) and Monsanto (U.S.). Also, there are companies that focus on generic products; i.e. products which have come-off patents. Key players in the generic segment include Nugarm (Australia), and Sumitomo (Japan).