Dr Rob Bryant of Agranova-Brychem asks whether the global agrochemical industry has developed an over-reliance on limited regional sources for its raw materials , intermediates and actives
Much has been said about
supply shortages of manufactured goods during the continuing COVID-19 pandemic . Further rumours of rationing and preferential treatment at government level have generated a common perception that it might be better if countries returned to a policy of self-sufficiency . Many crop protection industry participants have argued over the years that a growing dependence on a limited number of regions for fine chemical intermediates and , in some case , active ingredients ( AIs ) was risky . However , these risks have generally been ignored , in order to obtain lowest prices for these chemical inputs and maintain ‘ lean ’ supply chains . therefore been excluded from this current description . In the early days , characterised by the now infamous phrase ‘ spray and pray ’, most AIs were developed in the labs of chemical companies and distributed to a myriad of small companies capable of delivering the products to farmers . Over the years , the degree of sophistication within the R & D labs gradually increased . As the scientific basis of agrochemical research improved , so did the researchers ’ methods . Resources converged with those being applied in pharmaceutical research . The era of the bioscience companies followed , with major groups becoming involved in research on human and plant diseases . This was a fruitful period , which began to fizzle out as the era of biopharmaceuticals dawned in the mid-1990s . Within a few years , the multinational bioscience majors had demerged their agrochemical businesses in order , as the mantra went , to maximise profits . At the same time , several agrochemical majors were investing heavily in seed companies in order to position themselves for the coming biotechnology revolution in agriculture . The impact of these changes has been far-reaching . The relatively few surviving companies have spread their activities across the world to extract the maximum benefits from their discoveries . However , many became less able to innovate and
Industry overview
Between the late 1940s and the early 1990s , the international agrochemical industry evolved through a number of stages , as it grew and matured . The initial consolidation and subsequent reduction in major companies involved in R & D has been tracked many times by a number of authors . 1 Figure 1 shows the dramatic decrease in the numbers of US and European agrochemical companies . The top six command nearly 75 % of global sales . Japan ’ s industry followed a different pattern of development and has
Figure 1 – Evolution of major US & European R & D-based agrochemical companies , 1960-2020
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