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 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.

From May 1, 2021, China began to carry out a new national standard of fertilizer markings “GB 178382-2021 Fertilizer Marking—Presentation and declaration”. The mandatory standard applies to both homemade and imported fertilizers circulated in China, playing an effective role in protecting farmer’s interests and promoting legitimate businesses.

The number of the macronutrient Water-soluble fertilizers has grown to 3600, taking up almost 15% of fertilizers registered with MoARA and their uneven quality performance became increasingly comparable with China’s current agricultural strategy of quality enhancement and agrochemical use reduction.

Organic fertilizer is a category of fermented fertilizers obtained from animal manure and plant/animal residue and the use of organic fertilizers has a long history in China. But in recent decades, the percentage of organic fertilizer in total nutrient input has steadily reduced from 99.9% in 1949 to 20% in 2010 and bottomed at 5% to 10% today. China’s per-unit-area rate of chemical fertilizer is 443.5 kg per hectare, almost 3 times the global average level of 120 kg per hectare and twice the internationally-accepted safety limit of 225 kg per hectare. This gives China an ever-increasing agricultural output at the expense of soil fertility: 26% and 44% of the farmland has the fewest organic matter and organic carbon of less than 1%. 64%, 53% and 40% of the farmland are in serious deficiency of Calcium, Magnesium and Sulphur. Since China launched the “Action Plan for Zero-growth of Chemical Fertilizer and Pesticide Use” in 2015, as well as other agricultural development policies thereafter, this reviving sector has witnessed a double-digital increase for the past few years and the demand would reach 227 Billion Yuan by 2023. In the course of China’s agricultural revitalization of quality enhancement and green development, it is vital for agribusiness enterprises to have a better understanding of the industrial actuality, key driving force and the developing tendency of China’s organic fertilizer market. Industry Characteristics Organic fertilizers can be conceptually classified into 3 commercialized categories: refined organic fertilizer, organic-inorganic compound fertilizers and microbial organic fertilizers and their market percentage were 43.5%, 17.6% and 38.9% respectively: Refined organic fertilizer- Obtained thought the fermentation or decomposition of organic materials and typically formulated into powdery, granular, or liquid form. organic-inorganic compound fertilizer-blended or compounded products of inorganic fe

On Dec 20, 2019, the Chinese Ministry of Agricultural and Rural Affairs release the result of national supervisor and spot inspection on fertilizer during the second half of the year. The overall qualification rate was 86.9% but the qualification rate of organic fertilizer was less than 80%, mainly due to disqualified water content, organic matter content and excessive microbial contaminants.

On 17 Dec 2019, the State Administration of Market Regulation and the Standardization Administration Commission jointly issued the mandatory national standard, “GB 38400-2019 Limitation Requirements of Toxic and Harmful Substance in Fertilizers”, which will take effect on 1 Jul 2020.