Chinese farmers spend on average 45 CNY per ton on postharvest treatment of citrus fruits. Most of the agrochemicals used target blue mold, green mold, black rot, stem-end rot, oospora rot, anthracnose and are also used for preservative purposes. China’s annual citrus yield is over 30 million tons and is estimated to be worth as much as 1.3 billion Yuan.

China MoA has revoked 12 pesticide registration certificates from 9 domestic producers for substandard or counterfeit pesticide.

On 14-16 October 2014, ICAMA’s Deputy Director lead an expert panel into Hunan province to study the product, use and risk monitoring of carbofuran and carbosulfan. The panel has already engaged in an open consultation process with pesticide producers and local governing authorities on the reassessment of these two insecticides, which was initiated in July this year (see ChemLinked News Release on 28 Jul 2014).

China pesticide export volume remained flat at 892,700 tons in the first half of 2014 just a slight decrease of 1.5% compared to the same period last year. The value of pesticide exports increased by 3.8% up to 4.667 billion USD. The percentage of pesticide technical materials continued to drop in both volume and value. Volume of imports maintained double digital growth to some 40,100 tons and the value was 423 million USD, a modest growth of 2% than last year. On day two of the Chemical Regulatory Annual Conference 2014, Mr. Zhang Wenjun, Division Director of International Exchange and Service from ICAMA provided some interesting statistics on China’s pesticide exportation and importation as well as the recent updates on pesticide import/export management.

On 10 Oct. 2014, China AQSIQ and SAC (Standardization Administration of China) held a press conference announcing the official release of environmental assessment test guidelines for chemical pesticides. These guidelines were all published in Chinese national standa

On 9 Oct 2014, the US International Trade Commission made its final decision on its anti-dumping lawsuit targeting Chinese produced and imported trichloroiso cyanuric acid(TCCA). The commission determined that Chinese TCCA was currently a subsidized imported product and that in future new duties will be imposed on imported TCCA from China.

On 8 Oct 2014, MoA’s official website published the meeting minutes of the 15th session of the 8th National Expert Committee for Pesticide Registration which announced the approval of full registration on 15 new pesticides of 9 novel active ingredients in China, which includes Syngenta’s isopyrazam, Dow’s Aminopyralid and BASF’s Intium. 

Mr. Sui announced that the second revised draft of the new pesticide regulation was completed and agreed upon by other ministries. The legal text will be submitted to the Executive Meeting of the State Council for further discussion, which will be held during October 2014. If approved by the State Council the new regulation would be promulgated shortly after.

Mr. Zhang revealed that the competent authority of manufacturing management is to issue a special document for the production of pesticides for export only. With the uncertainty surrounding the current and future management of pesticide for export only it is recommended that affected companies communicate and interact with competent authorities at this crucial stage.