The remaining Agricultural GMO safety certificates of food crop, the Cry1Ab/Cry1Ac, the Bt63 and phytase enzyme maize were all expired on the 17th Aug 2014. As the safety certificates were not renewed in time, at this stage there can be no further commercialization of these GMOs in China.

According to statistics from CCPIA’s Jiangsu, sales of the 28 major Jiangsu pesticide producers have increased by 9.7% to some 23.47 billion CNY during the first half of 2014 and the profit totaled 1,842 million CNY, representing 17.3% growth year on year.  

According to statistics from the General Administration of Customs (GAC), Chinese Pesticide trade value reached to 2.816 billion USD during the first half of 2014 and the trade surplus was 1.915 billion USD, up 22.9% year on year. The volume of export grown by 10.5% to some 669, 000 tons and the value increased by 20.1% to some 2.366 billion USD.

Chinese pesticide companies are feeling the pinch after a significant decrease in sales figures compared to last year. Statistics have revealed that the poor sales have affected almost all products in the Chinese insecticide sector. 

On 10 Jul 2013, the 10th session of the National Committee on the Assessment of Pesticide Residue Standard was concluded in Beijing. 223 MRLs of 35 pesticide active ingredients, which have been open to public consultation since on 4 Jun 2014.

Hong Kong will implement “Regulation on Pesticide Residue in Food” on 1st August 2014. Non-compliant food commodities are not permitted to be imported, produced or sold in Hong Kong with violations subject to a fine of HKD 50,000 or 6 months custodial sentence.

In 2013 China produced 3.19 million tons of pesticide, continuing the impressive growth the industry has witnessed over the last five years. Import volumes have also grown over the past 5 years, which have diluted profit margins for domestic interests and greatly increased competition. (See ChemLinked News Release on 13 May 2014. Domestic interests can take some solace in the fact that the increase in exportation has heavily outweighed importation. In the early 21th century, China mainly exported glyphosate and paraquat to the overseas market, but China become the major exporter of new generics and out of some profitable generic active ingredient, which includes azoxystrobin, kresoxim-methyl, mesotrione and glufosinate, etc. Driven by favorable exportation importation ratios, the industry has seen growth and significant increase in both revenue and investment. Major Economic indicator of Chinese Pesticide Industry in FY2013 Category Assets(billion CNY) Change (%) Income(billion CNY) Change (%) Profit(billion CNY) Change (%) Chemical Pesticide 176.22 17.3 252.24 18.7 20.74 32.8 Biopesticide 15.22 12.6 28.72 22.3 20.74 13.7 Total 191.44 16.9 281.26 19.1 22.92 30.8 Fixed Asset Investment in FY2013 Category Planned (billion CNY) Change (%) Achieved (billion CNY) Change (%) Number of Projects Change (%) Chemical Pesticide

According to the survey from China ICAMA, both the production and marketing of paddy pesticide are booming in June and the stocks are sufficient to control the pest &disease on paddy.

On 8 Jul 2014, China MEP published the first list of environmentally compliant glyphosate producers. The draft public consultation period wrapped up on the 13 Jun 2014 after which four companies (just a fraction of total applicants) were finally included into the first batch.

In June 2014 the price of Chinese produced glyphosate was CNY 30,000 per ton which represented a significant decrease from April’s values which were on average 36,000 and was a mere shadow of the heights witnessed during 2013’s glyphosate rush. It would be reasonable to point the finger at poor overseas sales performances. However upon closer scrutiny China MEP’s failure to stabilize production volume is probably the telling factor and requires both China’s government and domestic industry to profoundly rethink China’s domestic development strategy. China’s government has been almost powerless in reigning in the massive fluctuations in the value of Chinese produced glyphosate and has laid the foundations for massive regulatory reform with the hope of changing this situation.    Global Demand and Policy Failures: The relationship between South American demand and Chinese glyphosate prices was highlighted by a sharp decline in consumption and the inevitable negative impact on glyphosate prices. In response to declining sales, China’s knee jerk reaction has been to attempt to decrease overall supply in the hope of stabilizing price. The Chinese glyphosate industry and the price of Chinese glyphosate exports have been victims of China’s high volume/low quality production paradigm. A dispersed production base divided into the hands of hundreds of small production operations has made price fixing almost impossible. Stabilizing Value Means Controlling the Supply The government’s solution to this problem is to centralize production and ultimately control supply variables, a natural selection by regulation designed to thin China’s glyphosate production herd allowing only the fittest producers to survive. The supposition is that increased regulatory standards and greater regulation of production certification will force substandard glyphosate exporters out of business and thereby consolidat