DATE : 2017-03-20
US chemicals giant Dow is to invest EUR 300 M in Germany over the next 2 years. The project concerns 3 neighbouring sites belonging to the subsidiary Dow Olefinverbund (Schkopau, Leuna and Boehlen, E Germany). EUR 200 M will be invested in site maintenance and modernisation with a further EUR 100 M possibly being invested in additional capacities or production units. Units at the 3 sites could be operating at full capacity in less than 1 year. In E Germany, Dow produces polyethylene, polyethylene terephthalate, polyurethane, extruded polystyrene, hydrocarbon resins, acrylic acid, butyl acrylate, powdered dispersions and aniline. Dow's cracker in Boehlen (565,000 tonnes capacity in 2015 according to Petrochemicals Europe) will close for 6 weeks in 2018 for major maintenance work. Although it mainly uses naphtha, 15% of its feedstock is currently gas and this proportion is set to rise to 50%, according to the German press.
The conversion necessary will require construction work and investment. The EUR 100 M budget for this work could be increased in proportion with the amount of propane cracker in Boehlen. However, a final decision on the project has yet to be taken.
Source Chimie Pharma Hebdo
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DATE : 2017-03-10
INEOS Nitriles has declared force majeure at its 280,000 tonne/year acrylonitrile (ACN) plant at Seal Sands in the UK, a company source confirmed on Friday.
European customers have been placed on 80% allocation for March, the source added. Further details on the force majeure were not immediately available from the company, but according to several of INEOS’ customers production problems began at the beginning of the month.
INEOS Nitriles is also undergoing a three-week regulatory inspection at its 300,000 tonne/year Cologne, Germany plant. The inspection is proceeding as scheduled, the company source said.
The announcement comes amid a period of globally tight supply. European spot prices rose by 54-60% between the start of the year and 3 March as a result of low availability.
The majority of sellers are sold out for March, with the European spot market virtually dry.
Low availability in the US and Asia has meant that local shortages cannot be counteracted by import volumes.
Expectation on how long the European ACN spot market will remain tight varied, but some players expect availability to remain low throughout the first half of 2017.
Source Icis News
DATE : 2016-03-09
In 2016, Jiangsu reduced the pesticide use by 1,100 tonnes (= 1.4%) YoY(= year on year) to 77,000 tonnes in total, striving to realise the goal of "zero growth in pesticide use" by 2020. Notably, significant changes included:
1. Decreased insecticide use
The year 2016 saw slighter occurrence of rice pests, especially rice plant hopper and leaf roller, compared with 2015. In accordance with this, local departments promoted application of environmentally friendly technology for pest & disease control and prevention, significantly reducing provincial insecticide use and meanwhile putting pests under effective control. Particularly, the province placed its emphasis on increasing application of high efficacy, low toxicity & low residue chemical pesticides and biopesticides, such as pymetrozine, nitenpyram and bisamides.
2. Increased fungicide use
Jiangsu witnessed heavy/ extreme occurrence of wheat head blight and rice sheath blight, as well as moderate/ heavy occurrence of rice blast in the year. Given this, the province increased its use of fungicides to curb diseases. That aside, the government promotion of "3 resistant" pesticide mixtures (pest & disease resistant, dry-hot wind resistant and premature senescence resistant) increased their overall applied area and usage amount per ha.
3. Slightly reduced herbicide use
Occurrence area of rice weeds, especially weedy rice, Chinese sprangletop and barnyardgrass in direct seeding fields, went up slightly in the year. However, affected by frequent rain in some planting areas, farmers failed to apply targeted herbicides timely, thus reducing use of some innovative herbicides like penoxsulam, cyhalofop-butyl and metamifop.
4. Expanded application of high efficacy, low toxicity & low residue pesticides
In 2016, the provincial coverage rate of high efficacy, low toxicity & low residue pesticides on major crops (especially grains) reached 77.2%, up 3.0 percentage points over 74.2% in 2015. According to investigation into 906 users (including large farms, family farms and agricultural service stations),
- Pesticides on rice: 5.56% were of micro toxicity, 84.77% of low toxicity, 9.55% of medium toxicity and 0.12% of high toxicity
- Pesticides on wheat: 5.33% were of micro toxicity, 89.32% of low toxicity, 4.46% of medium toxicity and 0.89% of high toxicity
5. Optimised pesticide consumption structure
Of the total provincial pesticide use in 2016, insecticides/ acaricides accounted for 35.58%, fungicides for 37.02%, herbicides for 26.65%, plant growth regulators for 0.47% and rodenticides for 0.28%.
Specific figures differed among crops. For instance,
- Rice
Insecticides accounted for 41.66%, fungicides for 40.67%, herbicides for 17.66% and plant growth regulators for 0.01%
Leading products by usage amount (in decreasing order): tricyclazole, abamectin, butachlor, isoprothiolane, pretilachlor, pymetrozine, diazinon, emamectin benzoate, jingangmycin A and thifluzamide
- Wheat
- Insecticides accounted for 16.76%, fungicides for 54.11%, herbicides for 29.12% and plant growth regulators for 0.01%
- Leading products by usage amount (in decreasing order): carbendazim, isoproturon, triadimefon, fluroxypyr-mepthyl, thiram, fenoxaprop-P-ethyl, phoxim methyl, clodinafop-propargyl, pymetrozine, tebuconazole and phenamacril.
Source cnchemicals
DATE : 2017-03-09
Herbicide makes the maximum proportion among Chinese pesticides.Therefore, registrations of herbicide-containing pesticides keep increasing. According to the Institute for the Control of Agrochemicals, Ministry of Agriculture (ICAMA), 20 herbicide TC/ TK (involving 19 herbicide active ingredients) was newly registered in China in Jan. 2017 by 13 companies.
Registrations of penoxsulam TC rose to 3, which was respectively obtained by Dow AgroSciences, Shijiazhuang Xingbai Bioengineering Co., Ltd. and HuaianGuorui Chemical Co., Ltd. It is known that the patent of penoxsulam chemicals is valid till 22 Sept., 2017 in China. At present, many companies are applying for the field test of related products. It is predicted that when the patent expires, related pesticide registrations will rise rapidly.
As of 31 Jan., 2017, there was respectively one valid registration of triafamone TC, terfuryltrione TC and flurtamone TC in China, which was obtained by Bayer CropScience. In 2015, Bayer CropScience has temporarily registered triafamone 93.60% TC in China. In Jan. 2017, the company changed this registration into formal registration. Besides, the flurtamone 98% TC formal registration (validity: 5 years) recorded in Jan. 2017 was also a temporary registration (validity: one year) obtained in 2015. Notably, terfuryltrione was first registered in China, by Bayer CropScience. Last month, the company obtained 4 herbicide TC registrations in total.
Two companies registered glufosinate-ammonium TC in Jan. They are Rosi Chemical Co., Ltd. and Henan Yingtai Agrochemical Co., Ltd. As of 31 Jan., 2017, there were 44 valid registrations of glufosinate-ammonium TC in China, of which 8 and 9 were obtained in 2016 and 2015 separately.
Jiangsu FengshanGroup Co., Ltd. obtained 4 herbicide TC registrations in Jan., namely triclopyr-butotyl 99% TC, triclopyr 99% TC, clodinafop-propargyl 95% TC and cyhalofop-butyl 97% TC. On the toxicity front, the newly registered herbicide TC includes 18 low toxicity ones and 2 micro toxicity ones
Source cnchemicals
DATE : 2017-02-24
On 14 Feb., 2017, the 20th Jiangsu Pesticides and Sprayer Facilities Information & Technology Exchange Meeting was held in Nanjing City. It is revealed at the meeting that the province intends to decrease pesticide use by 500 tonnes in 2017, despite the estimated trend of serious pest & disease occurrence. To meet this goal, actions will be taken to promote environmentally friendly agricultural production technology in accordance with the 2017 No.1 Central Document.
Pesticide consumption in 2016
In 2016, Jiangsu reduced the pesticide use by 1,100 tonnes (= 1.4%) YoY (= year on year) to 77,000 tonnes in total, striving to realise the goal of "zero growth in pesticide use" by 2020. Notably, significant changes included:
1. Decreased insecticide use
The year 2016 saw slighter occurrence of rice pests, especially rice plant hopper and leaf roller, compared with 2015. In accordance with this, local departments promoted application of environmentally friendly technology for pest & disease control and prevention, significantly reducing provincial insecticide use and meanwhile putting pests under effective control. Particularly, the province placed its emphasis on increasing application of high efficacy, low toxicity & low residue chemical pesticides and biopesticides, such as pymetrozine, nitenpyram and bisamides.
2. Increased fungicide use
Jiangsu witnessed heavy/ extreme occurrence of wheat head blight and rice sheath blight, as well as moderate/ heavy occurrence of rice blast in the year. Given this, the province increased its use of fungicides to curb diseases. That aside, the government promotion of “3 resistant” pesticide mixtures (pest & disease resistant, dry-hot wind resistant and premature senescence resistant) increased their overall applied area and usage amount per ha.
3. Slightly reduced herbicide use
Occurrence area of rice weeds, especially weedy rice, Chinese sprangletop and barnyardgrass in direct seeding fields, went up slightly in the year. However, affected by frequent rain in some planting areas, farmers failed to apply targeted herbicides timely, thus reducing use of some innovative herbicides like penoxsulam, cyhalofop-butyl and metamifop.
4. Expanded application of high efficacy, low toxicity & low residue pesticides
In 2016, the provincial coverage rate of high efficacy, low toxicity & low residue pesticides on major crops (especially grains) reached 77.2%, up 3.0 percentage points over 74.2% in 2015. According to investigation into 906 users (large farms, family farms and agricultural service stations).
Pesticides on rice: 5.56% were of micro toxicity, 84.77% of low toxicity, 9.55% of medium toxicity and 0.12% of high toxicity
Pesticides on wheat: 5.33% were of micro toxicity, 89.32% of low toxicity, 4.46% of medium toxicity and 0.89% of high toxicity 5. Optimised pesticide consumption structure Of the total provincial pesticide use in 2016, insecticides/ acaricides accounted for 35.58%, fungicides for 37.02%, herbicides for 26.65%, plant growth regulators for 0.47% and rodenticides for 0.28%. Specific figures differed among crops. For instance,
- Rice
Insecticides accounted for 41.66%, fungicides for 40.67%, herbicides for 17.66% and plant growth regulators for 0.01%
Leading products by usage amount (in decreasing order): tricyclazole, abamectin, butachlor, isoprothiolane, pretilachlor, pymetrozine, diazinon, emamectin benzoate, jingangmycin A and thifluzamide
- Wheat
Insecticides accounted for 16.76%, fungicides for 54.11%, herbicides for 29.12% and plant growth regulators for 0.01%
Leading products by usage amount (in decreasing order): carbendazim, isoproturon, triadimefon, fluroxypyr-mepthyl, thiram, fenoxaprop-P-ethyl, phoxim methyl, clodinafop-propargyl, pymetrozine, tebuconazole and phenamacril
Pest & disease occurrence prediction for 2017
Occurrence of pests, diseases and weeds is a key factor influencing pesticide use.
In 2016, Jiangsu found an overall moderate occurrence of pests and diseases on crops – mainly wheat head blight, wheat powdery mildew, rice leaf roller and spodoptera litura, with rice borer and foot rot in some parts. Yet, occurrence of major pests and diseases are estimated to strike heavier in 2017. Affected by the increased temperature in the winter of 2016 and decreased rainfall in the spring of 2017, more pests and fungi were found in fields this year than previous years. According to monitoring conducted by the Jiangsu Crop Protection Station (JCPS), from late Oct. to early Dec. 2016, the weighted average of asiatic borers in field reached 145.1, up 14.0% YoY (1,000+ in hills and parts of northern Jiangsu); averaged distribution density of corn borers increased by 27.6% YoY to 47.2 head/100 plants.
Meanwhile, weak pest/ disease-resistance of crops and increased resistance to common pesticides among pests/ fungi significantly impacted the prevention & control effect. In particular, wheat head blight, wheat sheath blight and rape sclertiniose are predicted to strike heavily and corn rough dwarf to strike moderately, with moderate to heavy occurrence of pests & diseases on rice, fruit trees and other vegetables.
Pesticide demand and use for 2017
Despite the heavier pest & disease occurrence in 2017, Jiangsu intends to reduce 500 tonnes of pesticide use in 2017.
Zhang Shaoming, director of the Pesticides & Agricultural Machinery Department of JCPS, introduced: “We plan to control the provincial total pesticide use at around 76,500 tonnes this year.” Specifically,
Insecticide /acaricide: 27,500 tonnes, 35.9% of the provincial total
Fungicide: 28,000 tonnes, 36.6% of the provincial total Herbicide: 19,500 tonnes, 25.5% of the provincial total
Plant growth regulator: 1,500 tonnes, 2.0 of the provincial total
“High efficacy, low toxicity & low residue pesticides and biopesticides will be further promoted. In contrast to this, application of high-toxic pesticides will continue to decrease. Additionally, with supports of advanced agricultural technology, the provincial pesticide utilisation rate is expected to improve by 2.0 percentage points to 40.0%+,” added Zhang Shaoming.
That aside, Jiangsu also increases effort to optimise crop planting structure, as the national agricultural supply-side reform moves deeper. Currently, the province sees increasing planting area of grains, vegetables, melons, fruits and coarse cereals, as well as decreasing area of rape and cotton. These changes may pose impacts on pesticide use over the coming period.
Source Cnchemicals
UK pesticides register new approval (2017): Panarex.
Date : 2017-02-24
On 24 Feb 2017, the UK Health and Safety Executive (HSE)'s Pesticide Register announced authorization number 20170520 (standard approval) of Kipota (MAPP No 17993). The authorization document is available, as a 7-page Word document, on the website. This Product does not have Expired Notices. Formulation type: emulsifiable concentrate. The product contains clodinafop-propargyl at 240.000 g/l and is authorized for use as an herbicide on durum wheat, rye, triticale, wheat. The product is not approved for aquatic and aerial use. Parallel import: No. The approval holder is Life Scientific Limited and the marketing company is Life Scientific Limited. The authorization expiry date is 31 Oct 2020.
Source: Pesticides Register of UK Approved Products
UK pesticides register new approval (2017): Panarex.
Date : 2017-02-07
On 7 Feb 2017, the UK Health and Safety Executive (HSE)'s Pesticide Register announced authorization number 20170384 (standard approval) of Panarex (MAPP No 17960). The authorization document is available, as an 8-page Word document, on the website. This Product does not have Expired Notices. Formulation type: emulsifiable concentrate. The product contains quizalofop-P-tefuryl at 40.000 g/l and is authorized for use as an herbicide on combining pea, field bean, fodder beet, linseed, oilseed rape, potato, sugar beet. The product is not approved for aquatic and aerial use. Parallel import: No. The approval holder is Arysta LifeScience Great Britain Ltd and the marketing company is Arysta LifeScience Great Britain Ltd. The authorization expiry date is 18 Feb 2019.
Source: Pesticides Register of UK Approved Products