Anhui Huaxing, with a production capacity of 30,000 tonnes per year, is also a major manufacturer, alongside Jiangshan Nantong, Sanonda and Zhejiang Jinfanda Photo: Nufarm

The market for the herbicide, glyphosate, manufactured in China has been gaining momentum over the years since Monsanto’s patent expired in September 2000, and is characterised by soaring prices and equally high profits for producers.

Generic manufacturers of the broad-spectrum herbicide have sprung up across China, driven by the huge profits and increasing demand.

First-half financial results for Chinese generic agrochemical companies in 2008 have been impressive, and glyphosate exports have surged.

But the sudden fall in prices and the worry of supply outstripping global demand looming on the horizon means the glyphosate sector in China faces some major challenges in the months to come.

Glyphosate is the world’s largest-selling agrochemical, with annual sales amounting to an estimated $5,000 million.

According to data from the Chinese agrochemical company, NAB International, there are 72 factories in China that possess glyphosate registration certificates, and around 40 large-scale manufacturers.

China’s annual production capacity is estimated at between 500,000 tonnes and 600,000 tonnes, some 80% of which is exported. Of the major glyphosate manufacturers in China, Zhejiang Xin’an is the largest. It has a yearly production capacity of some 60,000 tonnes and an expected capacity of 80,000 tonnes by next year.

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Anhui Huaxing, with a production capacity of 30,000 tonnes per year, is also a major manufacturer, alongside Jiangshan Nantong, Sanonda and Zhejiang Jinfanda. Some 75% of Chinese glyphosate is manufactured from glycine and the remaining 25% using the intermediate, n-phosphonomethyl iminodiacetic acid (PMIDA).

Monsanto and Chinese generic manufacturers share such a large proportion of the world’s glyphosate production by geographical chance – the distribution of natural resources. Glyphosate chemistry is built on a particular grade of phosphorus, the only significant and viable supplies of which are located in just two regions worldwide: the US and China.

Because Monsanto owns or controls the US resources, China has become the alternative source for production of glyphosate and its intermediates, notes Robert Reis, group general manager of corporate strategy & external affairs at Nufarm.

Nufarm expects to source about half of its glyphosate technical from China in the coming months, and has recently negotiated separate transactions with “four or five” unnamed Chinese companies involved in the manufacture of glyphosate to secure long-term supplies. “Some of those partnerships also involve pilot development projects looking at improved routes or methods of glyphosate manufacture,” Mr Reis adds....

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