According to the MoA, the ministry and the NHFPC have jointly issued the “Maximum Residue Limits for Pesticide in Food (GB2763-2014)”. As the unique and compulsory food safety standard in China, GB 2763-2014 consists of 3,650 limits of 387 pesticide active ingredients, which is a significant increase from the MRL standard in 2012 of just 2,293 limits.

On March 12 2014, China MoA issued a circular to its provincial subordinates specifying the work program of its impending quality supervision campaign targeting pesticide producers and distributors.

On March 21, 2014, China ICAMA issued a notice on its website to its provincial level subordinates and other authorities involved in pesticide management to consult on the list of pesticide products subject to registration reassessment.

China pesticide exports rose by 8.4% to some 8.523 Billion USD in 2013, according to figures compiled by the Institute for the Control of Agrochemicals, MoA (China ICAMA). That compares with exports totaling some 7.86 Billion USD in 2012. Though imports jumped by 23% to 698 million USD, China still maintains a considerable trade surplus of 7.8 Billion USD in the pesticide sector.

On 3 Mar 2014, AQSIQ issued Announcement 19 of 2014 to revise the “Implementing Rules of Manufacturing License on Pesticide”, an important implementation rules for AQSIQ’s enforcement of production license for pesticide producers. Four formulation types and 14 product varieties were newly include into AQSIQ’s regulatory scope.

On March 1 2014, the industrial standard, “HG T4576-2013-Limitation of Harmful Solvents for Emulsifiable Concentrates Pesticide Preparations” became effective.

The rat race has forced China to upgrade its portfolio with new molecules and technology. Since 7th FYP (from 1985 to 1989), 50 new active ingredients have been developed by Chinese institutes or pesticide companies, which included 14 insecticides, 25 fungicides, 8 herbicides and 3 plant growth regulators. The name, category, inventor, patent and registration status and producer of these new active ingredients are summarized in the table below:

In 2013, 83.6% of Chinese pesticides met the minimum quality standard, according to a MoA report which outlined results taken from the second part of MoA’s quality monitoring initiative on pesticide products. This figure was down from 87.3% in the same period in 2012, a statistic which is indicative of MoA’s heightened regulatory supervision. A total of 3404 samples and 3417 labels from 2145 distributors and 998 manufacturers were tested. MoA found that 2846 samples met quality standards but 26% of labels were incorrectly labeled. These products have been registered for various crops, including soybean, maize, rice, wheat, fruit tree, vegetable, tea and cotton, etc. Among the 3404 samples tested under quality standards, 2053 were insecticides, 725 fungicides, 568 herbicides and 58 miscellaneous. 84.6% of the single formulated products met quality standards while 80.3% of combination products met quality standards. The information is summarized in the following table:

On January 13, 2014 China ICAMA issued a notice for public comment announcing the full registration of 117 products, which contains  information on the applicants name, product name, active ingredient(s), content, formulation type, toxicity, crop range, target, dosage and application method.

On January 7 2014, China ICAMA released a notice on its website detailing the procedures for revoking pesticide registration on certain products, which were banned or restricted under “MoA’s Announcement 2032”.