On 1  April 2017, Chinese  Prime Minister Li Keqiang issued  State Council Decree 677 promulgating the revised pesticide regulation, “Regulation for the control of Agrochemicals（aka: Regulation on Pesticide Administration）”, which will take effect on 1 June 2017. The move is part of an overall regulatory/legislative/administrative reform in China in which authority is being centralized replacing China’s historical predilection of dividing labor between several different regulatory authorities.  

On 20 Mar 2017, China MoA circulated an official letter concerning the formation of the 9th National Committee on Pesticide Registration. In response to the newly revised pesticide regulation and the expiration of the 8th Committee, MoA plans to assemble a new group of experts to conduct technical review of pesticide registration. The new committee will be composed of about 130 experts recommended by MIIT, MEP, NHFPC, AQSIQ, SAWS and CFDA. MoA is responsible for the committee organizational structure, personnel and verification of the qualifications of experts.

By the end of 2016, Chinese pesticide exportation totaled 1,373,452.93 million tons, amounting to some 5.6 billion USD, representing consecutive year-over-year declines of 9.08% and 22.88% respectively. During the first half of the year, the volume and value fell a further 21.8% and 33% compared with the same period a year earlier. Overall the market decline in H1 was slightly offset by a rebound in H2. large Fig 1.China Pesticide Exportaion-volume and value of techinical and formulations from 2011-2016 The value of exports has been enhanced by exportation of more formulated products than technical materials and the percentage of formulations has grown from 53.58% in 2011 to 64.07% in 2016. Another aspect to note is that purchases were clustered around a few key trade partners. The value percentage of formulated product imported by the top 10 export destinations saw a 7% increase over the last 3 years, indicating that Chinese producers are oriented toward several lucrative markets. large Fig 2.China Pesticide Exportation-value percentage of techinal and formulations sourced by top 10 destinations formulations(2014-2016) Of all the 160 destination countries/regions worldwide, the top 30 destinations sourced over 80% of the pesticide. Asia sourced 45.293 tons or 1.74 billion USD of pesticides from China, followed by Latin America, Africa, North America, Europe and Australasia. The percentage of each continent varied little in both volume and value terms compared with the same period last year. large Fig.3 China Pesticide Exportation-Volume and Value Percentages of Pesticide Imported by Regions 2015vs2016 The top 14 Asian destination countries sourced 28.1% of the pesticides: India, Vietnam, Indonesia, Thailand, Pakistan, Japan, Malaysia, Israel, Turkey, Singapore, Iran, Korea, Philippine and Bangladesh; The major destinations in Latin America were: Brazil, Argenti

On Feb 10 2017, Brazilian IBAMA issued the “Normative Instruction 2” on Federal Official Gazette to establish the guideline and procedures for the environmental risk assessment of pesticides against pollinators.

On 10 Feb 2017, China MEP published the draft of “Effluent Standards for Pollutants for Pesticide Industry” for consultation until 26 Mar 2016. The draft specifies the names, determination methods and emission limits of general and typical pollutants to be monitored and controlled during pesticide production and wastewater treatment, as well as the emission limit per unit of output for the production of specific pesticides.

By the end of 2016, Thai agricultural pesticide importation totaled 160,687 tons, representing an increase of 10.8% compared with the previous year of 149,458 tons. Import value grew by 7.1% to 20.577 billion THB (587.91 million USD at the current rate). The number of Thai companies engaged in pesticide importation decreased from 147 to 141 while the number of sourcing origins went from 34 in 2015 to 36 in 2016. The number of imported active ingredients/combinations showed little variation however prices were volatile during the year.