According to statistics from China’s Customs bureau, China exported 45.736 tons of glyphosate in September 2014 representing an export value of 159 million USD which compared to the previous month represents a 15.6% drop in volume and a 19.4% drop in value.

On 21 Nov 2014, China ICAMA issued a notice opening 3 draft guidelines for agrochemical testing to public comment. The 3 guidelines were drafted by ICAMA and are open for public comment until 30 November:

on 10 Oct 2014, China ICAMA released an announcement opening the draft of “Guidance on Residential Health Risk Assessment of Mosquito Coils, Vaporizing mats and Liquid Vaporizers” for public consultation. The guidance draft provides the procedures and methods for primary risk assessment of mosquito repellent products, which is applicable for health assessment of residential pesticides.

On 14 Nov 2014, MoA issued a public consulation notice on the draft alteration of 103 pesticide maximum residue limits for 2, 4-D butylate and other 57 pesticide active ingredients.

The GLP principle was initially proposed by the US FDA, to ensure the accuracy, reliability and the traceability of test data. The US EPA subsequently implemented the GLP rules within its registration management of pesticide and chemicals. In 1978, the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) issued the “Principles of Good Laboratory Practice” and pushed forward implementation within its member states. Meanwhile, OECD also accepted other non-OECD countries to join its MAD (Mutual Acceptance of Data) system. Currently South Africa, Israel and India have joined OECD’s MAD. However GLP development in China is far behind that of its OECD counterparts despite its dominating position in agrochemical production and exportation. China has not yet joined the MAD system and only a small percentage of its domestic labs are recognized as GLP-compliant by the monitoring authority from OECD members. Much of the safety assessment data obtained by Chinese laboratories is not accepted for pesticide registration by OECD member countries. Chinese companies that wish to export to OECD states must conduct their testing in OECD GLP accredited laboratories which can often mean duplication of testing and heavy financial input. The Chinese authority therefore established its own GLP management system and seek data acceptance by intergovernmental cooperation with other countries. In August 2013, China ICAMA signed an LOI with the Office of EPA on the mutual acceptance of GLP data. The US EPA has just visited China to conduct the compatibility assessment on China’s GLP management system, which could be a milestone in China’s accession to the OECD/GLP/MAD system. It is also expected that a final MOU on GLP MAD would be reached in the near future. Then the data generated by a MoA-accredited GLP laboratory will be accepted by US authorities. The US EPA’s evaluation on Chinese GLP was mainly conducted by Ms. Francisca E. Liem. She also com

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