The agrochemical industry leads the chemical sector in both revenue and profit growth, demonstrating that agrochemicals are neither synonymous with pollution nor with obsolescence.

Over the past 70 years since the founding of New China, China’s agrochemical industry has grown from scratch to a robust, large-scale sector. Through arduous efforts and pioneering spirit, it has traversed a remarkable journey marked by both challenges and triumphs, achieving globally recognized accomplishments. Today, it has established a relatively complete agrochemical industrial system that encompasses active‑ingredient production, formulation processing, research and innovation, and the supply of raw materials and intermediates. This system has made substantial contributions to ensuring the sustainable development of Chinese agriculture, safeguarding food security, and increasing farmers’ incomes. As a result, China has emerged as the world’s leading producer and exporter of agricultural chemicals. “Sun Shubao, President of the China Pesticide Industry Association, said in his address.”

Sun Shubao stated that the production of fine chemicals, including pesticides, is not inherently synonymous with pollution or backwardness, and that processes such as chlorination, nitration, and sulfonation do not necessarily pose risks of combustion or explosion. Safe chemical production is preventable and controllable, and chemical safety accidents can and should be avoided altogether. This year marks the launch of the formulation of the 14th Five-Year Plan. The 14th Five-Year Plan represents a critical period as China transitions from building a moderately prosperous society in all respects to achieving basic socialist modernization. As the first five-year plan ushering in this new journey, it carries profound significance and far-reaching implications. We must uphold the unity of goal‑oriented and problem‑oriented approaches; balance domestic realities with a global perspective; coordinate comprehensive planning with prioritizing key issues; and integrate strategic vision with practical operability. In addressing the overarching, forward‑looking, and pivotal challenges facing the pesticide industry’s high‑quality development, we must put forward effective measures and solutions.

Li Bin, vice president of the China Petroleum and Chemical Industry Federation, stated that since the founding of the People’s Republic of China, the petroleum and chemical industries, after 70 years of exploration, have achieved remarkable accomplishments that have drawn worldwide attention and established a fully integrated industrial system spanning the entire upstream–downstream value chain. In 2019, the Chinese petroleum and chemical industries faced mounting downward pressure on economic performance, while uncertainties continued to grow in complexity.

According to data from the National Bureau of Statistics, as of the end of July, there were 26,043 enterprises in the petroleum and chemical industries above designated size. Their cumulative value added increased by 4.4% year on year, a deceleration of 0.1 percentage point compared with the January–June period, and 1.4 percentage points below the growth rate of nationwide industrial value added for the same period. Among the three major sectors, the chemical industry’s value added rose by 4.6%, unchanged from the first half of the year.

From a data perspective, the agrochemical industry has achieved remarkable growth: across the entire chemical sector, it ranks first in both revenue and profit expansion. From January to August, 712 large-scale enterprises in the agrochemical industry reported main business revenues of RMB 146.97 billion, up 9.2% year on year, and profits of RMB 14.18 billion, up 15.9% year on year—placing profit growth among the highest in the chemical industry. Although the number of large-scale enterprises declined compared with the same period last year, output of agrochemical products increased slightly by 1.6% year on year, while main business revenues surged 9.2% and profits jumped 15.9%. Stricter environmental and safety‑regulation enforcement is creating new opportunities for companies that operate in compliance with standards and uphold integrity.

“As a country with both a large population and a robust agricultural sector, our only path forward is to excel and strengthen ourselves—building China’s agrochemical industry into a competitive, globally leading force,” said Li Bin.

To promote high-quality development of the industry, Li Bin recommends focusing on enhancing quality and efficiency, fostering innovation, transforming the development model, building proprietary brands, and strengthening industry self-regulation, with the aim of elevating China’s agrochemical sector into a world-class industrial system that is globally competitive.

Huang Hui, a researcher at the Pesticide Management Division of the Department of Crop Production Management of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, stated in his report, “Strengthening Regulation, Optimizing Services, and Promoting the Healthy Development of the Pesticide Industry,” that the primary objectives for the development of the pesticide industry are four optimizations, four enhancements, and four safeguards. The four optimizations are: optimizing industrial layout, industrial structure, product mix, and market order.

The four areas of enhancement are: elevating the level of product innovation, green production, pesticide quality, and scientific application. The four safeguards are: ensuring agricultural production safety, agricultural product quality and safety, ecological and environmental safety, and the safety of human and animal life.

To this end, efforts must be intensified in the following areas: first, strengthen industry monitoring and regulation to promote sound sectoral development; second, rigorously enforce registration and market access requirements to optimize the structure of pesticide products; third, strictly control production licensing to refine the industrial layout of the pesticide sector; fourth, tighten operational licensing standards to ensure orderly market conditions; fifth, enhance guidance on pesticide use to safeguard agricultural production safety; sixth, reinforce oversight of the pesticide market to guarantee product quality; and seventh, bolster the supporting institutional framework to elevate the overall level of pesticide management.

Given that pesticide industry associations serve as a vital support for pesticide regulatory authorities, and that pesticide production and marketing enterprises are the backbone of the sector, Huang Hui recommends strengthening collaboration, enhancing service provision, and standardizing business operations going forward.

“The remarkable achievements of 70 years of pesticide development are truly inspiring and a source of great pride!” “Ji Ying, Chief Agronomist at the Pesticide Inspection Institute of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, stated, ‘This is mainly reflected in the establishment of a comprehensive legal framework for pesticide management, the transformation of pesticide production capacity from weak to strong, breakthroughs in the innovation of pesticide varieties, the gradual optimization of product mixtures, significant progress in ensuring the quality and safety of both pesticides and agricultural products, steadily strengthening technical support capabilities, negative growth in pesticide usage, and deeper international cooperation and exchanges in the pesticide sector.’”

Ji Ying stated that the pesticide industry today faces both challenges and opportunities. First, pesticide regulation is moving toward full legal compliance: oversight will become increasingly stringent, and registration requirements will grow ever more demanding.

Second, the environmental and safety situation is becoming increasingly severe.

Third, pesticide companies will increasingly diverge. The industry is under triple pressure—economic slowdown, environmental‑compliance crackdowns, and workplace‑safety requirements—and compounded by higher registration thresholds, rising raw‑material costs, and escalating expenses. As a result, many firms are struggling, and the market forces of competition are beginning to take hold, manifesting as a pattern in which the strong grow stronger while the weak remain weak.

Fourth, the merger and restructuring of agrochemical companies is an inevitable trend.

Fifth, new products and technologies are continuously emerging. As agricultural production becomes increasingly large-scale and intensive, highly efficient, low‑toxicity, safe, and environmentally friendly pesticide formulations are steadily being introduced, while novel application methods that save time, labor, and resources—while enhancing efficacy and safety—are gradually becoming mainstream. Cutting‑edge technologies such as nano‑pesticides, aerial crop protection, integrated water–fertilizer–pesticide systems, seed coating, and soil treatment are now widely adopted, and significant advancements have been made in formulation types and packaging.

Sixth, the international expansion of pesticide products is certain to continue.

Seventh, some agrochemical companies are undergoing transformation. Drawing on international experience in modern agricultural development, China’s agricultural production‑service sector has considerable room for growth. Agrochemical firms, with their deep understanding of agriculture and familiarity with farmers, possess inherent advantages in transitioning into agricultural production‑oriented service providers.

Ji Ying stated that advancing the green, high-quality development of pesticides is both the prevailing trend of our times and the direction of future progress, as well as a historic mission. First, it is essential to strengthen the legal framework underpinning the green development of pesticides.

Second, we will strengthen the guiding role of pesticide registration. Pesticide registration management has evolved from initially focusing on efficacy to placing greater emphasis on risks to human health and the environment, as well as overall safety. This includes encouraging innovation, raising registration thresholds, tightening the regulation of adjuvants, reducing the number of registered products, promoting the registration of biopesticides, and reinforcing post‑registration oversight.

Third, initiate the re‑evaluation of pesticides. Improve the re‑evaluation system and establish re‑evaluation procedures.

At present, pesticide products registered for more than 15 years have been identified and documented. Preliminary statistics indicate that China currently has 478 pesticide products with registrations exceeding 15 years. It is proposed to initiate a re‑evaluation of ten specific pesticides—glyphosate, carbendazim, atrazine, alachlor, butachlor, triazophos, imidacloprid, methomyl, propoxur, and fipronil—by commissioning relevant institutions to collect baseline data and carry out the re‑evaluation process. In accordance with the principle of risk prioritization, these re‑evaluations will be conducted in a phased and categorized manner.

Fourth, accelerate the phase-out of highly toxic pesticides.

Fifth, advance the registration of pesticides for specialty minor crops.

Sixth, strengthen the management of registration trial institutions.

Seventh, optimize the industrial layout of the pesticide sector.

Eighth, strengthen the regulation of the pesticide market.

Ninth, promote the reduction of pesticide use.

The morning plenary session was chaired by Li Zhonghua, Secretary-General of the China Pesticide Industry Association, while the afternoon plenary session was presided over by Cao Chengyu, Advisor to the China Pesticide Industry Association. Guests including Qian Xuhong, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and President of East China Normal University; Zheng Yuguo, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and Dean of the School of Bioengineering at Zhejiang University of Technology; Zhao Yonghui, Director of the Pharmaceutical Administration Division at the Pesticide Inspection Institute of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs; and Wang Rong, Chairman of Beijing Yingtai Jiahe Biotechnology Co., Ltd., shared insights on topics such as pesticide production technologies, registration and regulatory management, and supply chain issues.

At the conference, the “12th China Pesticide Industry Association Awards for Innovation in the Pesticide Industry” were also presented, including the Lifetime Achievement Award, the Outstanding Contribution Award, the Technological Innovation Award, and the Market Development Award, along with certificates to newly recognized HSE‑compliant enterprises in China’s pesticide industry.