Pyraclostrobin is a fungicide developed by BASF, which was released to some 80 countries across the world since its launch 16 years ago. The product has been applied to more than180 crops, having been regarded as a high active, high efficient, low toxic and broad spectrum fungicide. In 2014, sales of pyraclostrobin reached over US$1 billion, being a fastest growing fungicide product variety.

On June 20, 2015, the date of expiration of the patent of pyraclostrobin, lots of Chinese enterprises started registration and production. Until date, there have been a total of 540 pyraclostrobin registrations in China, including 280 mixtures and 260 single agents. There are more than 80 pyraclostrobin technical production companies in China, the main producers being Shandong Kangqiao Bio-technology, Qingdao Hailir, Hebei Sincerity and Delighted Chemical, Jiangsu Grey Agrochemicals and Jiangsu Tuoqiu Agriculture Chemical. 

The production capacity of several pyraclostrobin technical production companies 

The actual production capacity is subject to the actual production situation.

So far as production capacity is concerned, pyraclostrobin production is running at around 70% load in 2018. However, due to an increased number of producers, the actual pyraclostrobin technical production capacity in China reached nearly 10,000 tons, while actual market demand is only some 3,000 tons, which leads to an oversupply of the product. It is expected that with the cost being cut down and the phasing out of carbendazim and similar old products, the demand for pyraclostrobin may grow 2 to 3 times in the future and the price may fall accordingly.

With regard to formulations, pyraclostrobin is produced mostly in SC and WDG formulations, which account for over half of its formulations. 

In terms of global applications, 40% of global applications goes to dry field crops, while only 20% is applied to fruits and vegetables. As for the application of fungicides in China, the use of fungicides in dry field crops accounts for only 6%, which provides great potential for the future application of pyraclostrobin.

Shandong Kangqiao Bio-technology is a prime enterprise to promote the application of pyraclostrobin to field crops. Trials show that the use of pyraclostrobin will greatly improve the health of crops, stress resistance of plants and the quality of fruit. Meanwhile, the use of the product will enable at least a yield increase of above 10%, which means that a spending of 30 yuan will bring back a gain of over 100 yuan. In today’s high labor cost world, this is obviously an excellent return on investment.