Summary: Weifang Union has successfully expanded its prosulfocarb TC capacity, which boosts the company's competitiveness and influence in this market.

In late Oct., Weifang Sino-Agri Union Chemical Co., Ltd. (Weifang Union) revealed that it had doubled its prosulfocarb TC capacity to 2,000 t/a as its prosulfocarb TC technological transformation project was officially put into operation. This expansion helps boost the company's competitiveness and influence in this market.

Weifang Union, located in the Lingang Industrial Park of Weifang Binhai Economic and Technological Development Zone, Weifang City, Shandong Province, is an importance subsidiary of Shandong Sino-Agri United Biotechnology Co., Ltd. (Sino-Agri Union). Since establishment, Weifang Union has invested in the construction of capacity for several pesticide products to lay a solid foundation for its future development as well as to serve the overall development of its parent company. It finished the construction 1,000 t/a prosulfocarb TC production line in Nov. 2020, and put the line into normal operation in 2021 after going through trial-run phase and passed acceptance check. Later, the company decided to launch the prosulfocarb TC technological transformation project to bring its total prosulfocarb TC capacity to 2,000 t/a.

In addition to the expanded prosulfocarb TC capacity, Weifang Union also boasts active production capacity for dicamba TC, florasulam TC and a series of pesticide formulations. Moreover, the company has been pushing forward with building large-scale capacity for propyzamide TC, diflufenican TC and metam-sodium 35% AS.

It is worth noting that Shandong United Pesticide Industry Co., Ltd., another important wholly-owned subsidiary of Sino-Agri Union, now has built up capacity for 2-chloro-5-(chloromethyl)pyridine (CCMP), imidacloprid TC, thiamethoxam TC, thiacloprid TC, nitenpyram TC, acetamiprid TC, pyridaben TC, pymetrozine TC, chlorfenapyr TC and some pesticide formulations.

China is a big prosulfocarb TC producer. Besides Weifang Union, CAC Nantong Chemical Co., Ltd. (CAC Nantong) and Lianyungang Newtech Chemical Co., Ltd. (Lianyungang Newtech) also hold large-scale prosulfocarb TC capacity. However, so far the Chinese government has not allowed application of prosulfocarb products in domestic agricultural production. Therefore, prosulfocarb TC products made by the three producers are mainly exported to Australia and European countries, and/or are processed into prosulfocarb formulation products and then exported to the main destinations.

It is well-known that China has implemented the pesticide registration system, and a registration certificate is one of the necessary materials for a pesticide product to be legitimately sold in the market. Meanwhile, under this system, registration certificate for export-only pesticide is a specialised certificate for pesticide exports. In June 2020, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs of the People's Republic of China issued the Announcement No. 269 to facilitate easier obtainment of export-only pesticide registration certificate. On 1 July, 2021, Weifang Union, CAC Nantong and Lianyungang Newtech all had export-only pesticide registration of their prosulfocarb TC products approved. And soon after, Weifang Union and CAC Nantong also had their prosulfocarb 800g/L EC products approved of export-only pesticide registration.