World market agricultural chemicals

The U.S. accounts for almost one-quarter of worldwide slab zinc consumption and is the world s single largest market. About 80% of zinc is used in metal form, and the rest is used in compound form. In total, 90% of zinc metal is used for galvanizing steel (a form of corrosion protection) and for alloys, and is used in a wide variety of materials in the automotive, construction, electrical, and machinery sectors of the economy. Zinc compound use also varies widely, but is mainly found in the agricultural, chemical, paint, pharmaceutical, and rubber sectors of the economy. 

Synthetic pyrethroids now account for at least 30% of the world insecticide market and are rapidly replacing other agricultural chemicals for control of insect pests. Fenvalerate is one of the more widely used synthetic pyrethroid insecticides. It is derived from a combination of a-cyano-3-phenoxybenzyl alcohol and a-isopropyl phenylacetate ester. Technical fenvalerate is a mixture of four optical isomers, each occurring in equal amounts but with different efficacies against insect pests. Fenvalerate does not usually persist in the environment for >10 weeks, and it does not accumulate readily in the biosphere. Time for 50% loss (Tb 1/2) in fenvalerate-exposed amphibians, birds, and mammals was 6 to 14 h for reptiles, terrestrial insects, aquatic snails, and fish it was >14 h to <2 days and for various species of crop plants, it was 2 to 28 days. Fenvalerate degradation in water is due primarily to photoactivity, and in soils to microbial activity. Half-time persistence in nonbiological materials is variable, but may range up to 6 days in freshwater, 34 days in seawater, 6 weeks in estuarine sediments, and 9 weeks in soils. 

An uninformed farm population cannot be expected to purchase agricultural chemicals without the assistance of appropriate farm organizations. Neither can these farmers be expected to become interested in obtaining the best weapons for fighting insect and disease plagues unless these weapons can be properly demonstrated. DDT, for example, became a household expression the world over not necessarily because of its merits, but because of the way it was used and demonstrated in the most remote parts of the earth. The merits alone of a given product cannot be relied on to build a market for it abroad. This is especially true today with the many new insecticides that cause confusion even to the growers of the United States. 

In addition to exploiting the potential of polymer chemistry, Du Pont continued to commercialize new products in the divisions that had created their integrated learning bases before World War II. It did so in chemicals, including ammonia and methyl, and also in paints, finishes, and nonporous fabrics. After World War II, Du Pont began to build on its earlier potential in the production of insecticides and other agricultural chemicals (SIC 2879). Its innovative selective-weed-control products enabled it to capture 20 percent of the U.S. herbicide market by 1960. ... 

During World War II the Swiss companies maintained their markets abroad and their properties and patents were not expropriated. Nevertheless, and even more than their German rivals, the Swiss missed out on the polymer/petrochemical revolution. Unlike the Germans, they had undertaken little research during the initial developments in polymers. However, the formulating of DDT in 1940 provided an opportunity for entering pesticides and then agricultural chemicals. 

Ibid., for agricultural chemicals, pp. 446 47, 451 64 for percentage of herbicide market, see p. 458. By the early 1990s Du Pont was the second-largest and most profitable producer of herbicides in the world (Chemical Week, Sept. 8, 1993). 

For us, as marketers of agricultural chemicals, a key question for the Seventies is this Just where will the additional food needed to feed the world population be produced Back in the 1930 s, the less-developed nations of Asia, Africa and Latin America—considered as a group— were net exporters of grain, but in the 1940 s the food surplus of these nations shifted to a deficit, and they have since been net importers, in steadily increasing amounts. 

With world food production due to rise dramatically, in what nations will the rise be greatest What will be the best locations for the plants to produce the agricultural chemicals for these nations What marketing machinery will best fit the conditions to be found in these markets ... 

Many industries are involved such as forestry, agriculture, chemical, food, flavour, beverage, pharmaceutical, cosmetic and fragrance. The plant raw materials are roots, rhizomes, bulbs, leaves, stems, barks, wood, flowers, fruits and seeds. These yield gums, resins, essential (volatile) oils, fixed oils, waxes, juices, extracts and spices for medicinal and aromatic purposes. All these commodities are traded world-wide. A dealer s market report for an item may say Drought in the country of origin has forced up prices . 

In 2001, the world market for agricultural chemicals exceeded US 28 billion, with NAFTA (US, Canada, Mexico) and Europe accounting for over 50% of this total (Fig. I). Herbicides accounted for almost half of all sales, followed by insecticides (26%) and ftmgicides (21%). 

The total world consumption of surfactants as agricultural adjuvants was estimated to be 60,000 t in 1993 [10], and this figure is expected to continue to increase as more concerted efforts are made to reduce the amounts of crop protection chemicals used. Indeed, whilst figures in 1995 showed the worldwide adjuvant market valued at only 3% that of the corresponding agrochemicals, the increase in use per annum was 5% as compared with 1.5% per annum for the agrochemicals [9]. 

Insect resistance and environmental pollution due to the repeated application of persistent synthetic chemical insecticides have led to an Increased interest in the discovery of new chemicals with which to control Insect pests. Synthetic insecticides, including chlorinated hydrocarbons, organophosphorus esters, carbamates, and synthetic pyrethroids, will continue to contribute greatly to the increases in the world food production realized over the past few decades. The dollar benefit of these chemicals has been estimated at about 4 per 1 cost (JJ. Nevertheless, the repeated and continuous annual use in the United States of almost 400 million pounds of these chemicals, predominantly in the mass agricultural insecticide market (2), has become problematic. Many key species of insect pests have become resistant to these chemicals, while a number of secondary species now thrive due to the decimation of their natural enemies by these nonspecific neurotoxic insecticides. Additionally, these compounds sometimes persist in the environment as toxic residues, well beyond the time of their Intended use. New chemicals are therefore needed which are not only effective pest... 

---