Growth for plants and economy: Ceresana analyzes the global market for crop protection products

29-May-2012 - Germany

crop protection products protect plants from damaging influences such as weeds, diseases or insects. The strong dynamics in the crop protection market was occasion for the most extensive global market analysis, the results of which are now available. Market research institute Ceresana Research forecasts revenues of over 52 billion US$ for the global market of crop protection products in 2019. Most important sales region for crop protection products in 2011 was Asia-Pacific with a share of around 33% of worldwide consumption, followed by South America, Western Europe and North America.

Dynamic growth in emerging countries

Until 2019 market analysts of Ceresana expect notable changes in the sales markets, due to population growth, an increasing ecologic conscience and further developments in biotechnologies. In the future countries in South America and Asia-Pacific will gain further shares in the global market for crop protection products, predominantly at the expense of Western Europe and North America. "The reason for that are the significantly higher yields in industrialized nations - therefore an increased use of crop protection products only has a limited effect on harvests. Additionally, views on the use of crop protection products are getting increasingly skeptical in industrialized nations given ecological values", explains Oliver Kutsch, Managing Director of Ceresana. The strongest growth is forecast for South America - predominantly backed by Brazil.

Growth engine biofuels

Ceresana expects an increasing demand of 3.5% per year until 2019 for crop protection products in the cultivation of oil seeds. Main growth engine will be the use as biofuel. This trend is primarily supported by Southeast Asian countries cultivating oil palms. It is expected that the strongest growth in consumption of crop protection products will be generated by sugar crops. In this regard, Ceresana estimates an annual growth of 5.6% for South America. This increase is predominantly due to sugar cane production in Brazil.

Protection for fruit and vegetables

Global demand for herbicides was highest in 2011. Consumption almost equal to that was that of insecticides and fungicides taken together. Further, the strongest increase during the period from 2011 to 2019 is forecast for herbicides, this growth being caused by South America and Asia-Pacific, regions with strong demand. The report analyzes how application of crop protection products in particular crops will develop. With a share of around 28% a significant share of crop protection products will be used for the protection of fruit and vegetables, especially in tropical and subtropical regions. Regarding cereal grain crops, wheat and rice being the in the lead, crop protection products are in demand in all regions. While this area of application relies mainly on herbicides to protect plants, tropical and subtropical areas increasingly use insecticides and fungicides, for example in order to protect citrus fruit.

https://www.chemeurope.com/en/news/138102/growth-for-plants-and-economy-ceresana-analyzes-the-global-market-for-crop-protection-products.html