Agrochem Summit 2023 | Making India a Manufacture Hub

Introduction

Agrochemicals have been a major contributor in making any country self-reliant in food production. Its impact on boosting agriculture productivity has had a tremendous impact on the planet and the global population.According to reports, the global agrochemical market size is estimated to grow from US $208 billion in 2020 and is projected to reach US $246 billion by 2025, growing at a CAGR of 3.4%. A strong research funding by key manufacturers for new products is expected to drive growth in the next 5 years.

The demand for agrochemicals is growing due to demand for food supply in order to meet the needs of a growing world population from 8 billion to 9.8 billion in 2050 and 11.2 billion in 2100.While North America is the fastest growing market, Asia Pacific is the largest market of agrochemicals.

Brazil, France, Canada, Germany, and the United States import 25% of the total imports of pesticides globally.Major exporter countries to the world geographies include China, Germany,India, France, and the United States,accounting for more than 65% export share in the agrochemicals market.India has emerged as the fifth largest producer and the fourth largest exporter of agrochemicals after the United States, Japan, and China.

The scenario in India is quite interesting as half of the Indian population is still dependent on agriculture. In 2020-21,agriculture and allied sectors’ contribution was over 20 per cent in GVA(Gross Value Added) of India. Industry estimates suggest that the sectoral size is around US $5.72 billion in FY 2020-21,approximately equally divided between domestic consumption and exports.

Due to instances across the world of increased pest attacks, agrochemicals are expected to see rapid growth.However, higher instances of ban on agrochemicals in major regions like North America and Europe has slowed the overall growth rate of agrochemicals in these markets.

Overview

India has the potential to become “The Global Manufacturing Hub” for agrochemicals due to a number of favourable factors such as low manufacturing cost driven by availability of labor and tax benefits, technically trained manpower, underutilised production capacity,seasonal domestic demand, and low usage etc.

Indian agrochemicals Industry was valued at around US $6 billion in 2019-20 and is expected to grow at a CAGR of around 8% till 2025. There is a huge domestic market for growth and equally promising are the opportunities in the agrochemical export space. If rules and regulations are streamlined and ease of doing business undertaken by the country, it can boost India's export of agrochemicals to US $40 billion in the next five years.

India is using nearly 60,000 MT pesticides and produces US $481 billion worth of agriculture, compared to European Union countries, using 250 lakh MT pesticides and producing less than US $200 billion worth of agriculture, even though the EU has more land than India.

According to government data, the total area under cultivation in India in 2020-21 was over 188.5 million hectares. Some 78 percent of this area or a little over 147.3 million hectares is covered by chemical and bio-pesticides. Consumption of chemicals vis-à-vis bio-pesticides is nearly ten times.

India has one of the lowest per capita consumption of crop protection chemicals per hectare, which suggests, there is a significant scope of growth for the crop protection chemicals in India, increasing agricultural productivity and compensating the shortage of farm labour by extensive use of herbicides.

India crop protection market is highly fragmented with presence of more than 150 active ingredient manufacturers, more than 1,000 formulators and more than two lakh companies engaged in distribution.

So while there are opportunities, the sector has also been associated with a variety of issues, ranging from environment and sustainability, health of humans and animals, soil and water, to some serious disease and contamination afflicting the living and non-livings alike.

Changing needs and dynamics amidst rising population, shrinking arable land, concern for food security, evolving geopolitics, new addition to agrochemical product ranges,alternate products, and ecological concerns, will all have significant bearing on the future landscape of Agrochemicals.

The AgroChem Summit 2023 organised by Indian Chemical News (ICN) will dwell on a range of topics to help agrochemicals industry stakeholders and policy makers chart out a promising future both on the domestic and export front. If the problems are studied, solutions are found, the agriculture industry is confident to increase its food production almost by 100%. The main theme of the 2023 is "Making India a Manufacturing Hub”.