China is one of the most seriously weeds-harmed countries and mainly relies on chemical pesticides for weed control, i.e., herbicides. This article is an analysis of herbicide registration in China, in two parts: Statistics in 2015-2022, and Updated Regulations, Policy, and New Herbicides in 2022.

Pesticide reevaluation refers to the reassessment of a registered pesticide through safety, efficacy, and agronomic aspects, by using the latest scientific tools and findings. This procedure has been an established practice in developed countries and economies to grantee the sustained benefits of agricultural production, food safety, and environmental protection.

On December 31, 2021, the Chinese Ministry of Agricultural and Rural Affairs (MoARA) and the General Administration of Customs (GAC) jointly issued Announcement 416 to implement the electronic customs clearance of imported and exported pesticides. The announcement explains the qualification of pesticides and business entities data requirement, and procedures, as well as releases the latest version of “List of Pesticides Subject to Import and Export Management”.

On December 21, 2021, the Chinese Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs(MoARA) invited a 30-day consultation to ban 4 highly toxic pesticides: Phorate, Isofenphos-methyl, Isocarbofos, and Ethoprophos.

On December 16, 2021, the Crop Production Department of the Chinese Ministry of Agricultural and Rural Affairs invited public consultation regarding the accreditation of pesticide registration tests.

On October 21st and 22nd 2021, the Chinese Ministry of Agricultural and Rural Affairs concluded the 6th session of the 9th Review Committee of Fertilizer Registration, putting forward strengthen measures to refine trial management, nutrient contents of organic water-soluble fertilizers(biostimulants), and product labels.

On November 26, 2021, China MoARA opened a public consultation regarding the registration of herbicide used on herbicide-tolerant soybean and maize, aimed to regulate the regulatory study and registration of herbicide used on herbicide-tolerant crops: “Data Requirements for the Registration of Herbicides Used in Herbicide-tolerant Crops”，“Guideline on Field Efficacy Trial of Herbicides Used in Herbicide-tolerant Maize”，and “Guideline on Field Efficacy Trial of Herbicides Used in Herbicide-tolerant Soybean”.

On November 30 2021, China ICAMA opened a 7-day consultation of 13 pesticides containing 7 new active ingredients that have passed through the expert review at the 9th session of the 9th National Committee of Pesticide Registration, and 5 of them are chemical pesticides of Isofetamid and Tembotrione.

From 2016 to 2020, China invested 68.76 billion overall in new agrochemical facilities, capable of producing 653,000 tons of active ingredients, 918,000 tons of intermediates, 531,000 tons of formulations, and 9,700 tons of other products including adjuvants, antidotes, and synergists. As a result of China’s environmental and safety rectification and industrial upgrading, 17.66% and 25.07% of the capital went into northwestern or northern regions, and the East China region has access to 22.83% of the investments, owing to its diverse supply chain, advantageous infrastructure and human resource. As the top agrochemical production province, Jiangsu had put forward a provincial plan to rectify chemical industry as early as 2007, but the concrete measures were enforced since 2016 aimed to merger and upgrade or cancel the existing chemical industrial park/zone, as well as eliminate chemical factories outside the designated chemical industrial park/zone, which were and especially accelerated after the explosion in March 2019. By the end of October 2020, 14 chemical parks and 15 chemical concentration zones have been designated, but only 50% to 60% of chemical producers have moved in and the rest of producers would be forced to relocate or shut down. As for Shandong , the second-largest producing province, 85 chemical industry parks were announced and 34% of chemical producers were moved in and the number of chemical producers decreased from 6,094 in 2018 to 4,580 in 2020. Currently, over 20 provinces have enforced similar measures and it has become an unavoidable tendency that chemical producers to relocate to industrial parks. Since China has not yet established environmental protection regulations specific to Yellow River basin, upstream areas have become perfect destinations for migratory producers. Looking back on the annual investment, the growth in 2019 and 2020 was remarkable, mainly because increasing relocation/investment plans had been announced a

On November 1, 2021, China began to enact the agricultural standard “NY/T 3831-2021 Organic Water-Soluble Fertilizers-General Regulations”. In addition to the definition, classification and general rules on the raw materials, nutrient/harmful contents and label, NY/T 3831 first defined that this category of agricultural input is the result of organic raw materials and contains biostimulant, resolving the ambiguous legal status and offering conceptual ideas for the pre-marketing procedures for biostimulants.