Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
TABLE 1.2
Global Pesticides' Market Share (%) by Region in
1993-1994 and 2008
Market Share (%)
(1993-1994)
Market Share (%)
(2008)
Region
Africa
3
4
a
Europe
29
32
Japan
11
—
Latin America
11
21
Asia
16
23
North America
30
20
immediate, toxicity than insecticides. In most developing nations, the situation is reversed,
and insecticide use predominates, with a correspondingly higher level of acute risk. In
developed countries, it is nonetheless substantial and is growing.
The pesticide market has changed dramatically since the adoption of the Code of
Conduct. Then, around 15 European and US multinational agrochemical companies domi-
nated pesticide sales; following reorganizations and takeovers, just six of them now control
80% of the market. Genetically engineered seeds, based on herbicide- and insect-resistant
technology, make up a significant additional element in the profits of these companies.
Japanese companies have a lesser share of global sales, while Chinese and Indian compa-
nies are important producers, and China is expanding its pesticide exports. The market
for agricultural pesticides was US $17 billion at the time the Code was adopted. Global
agricultural pesticides sales ranged from US $30 billion in 1999 to US $25.2 billion in 2002,
with a reduction percentage of 6%. On the contrary, sales reached US $26.7 million in 2003
and have reached US $40 billion in 2008, showing fluctuation in the last 10 years (PAN AP
2010). Europe has been the largest market for crop protection products and Taiwan has the
largest per-hectare pesticide consumption (Koncept Analytics 2010).
Since the 1970s, the trends in pesticide use have been mixed, with herbicide use increas-
ing and insecticide use decreasing. Usage patterns are influenced by changes in pest biol-
ogy (including the development of resistance to pesticides) and legislative and regulatory
action following the discovery of negative effects on water quality and the environment.
Expenditures on herbicides accounted for the largest portion of total expenditures (more
than 40%), followed by expenditures on insecticides, fungicides, and other pesticides,
respectively.
Asian regulators meeting at an FAO workshop in 2005 estimated an annual pesticide use
in the region of around 500,000 tons of active ingredients. Some analysts suggest that the
Asian market accounted for 43% of agrochemical revenue in 2008 (Agronews 2009), and
that China is the world's biggest user, producer, and exporter of pesticides (Yang 2007).
India is the second largest pesticide producer in Asia and the twelfth largest producer
globally (WHO 2009). In Latin America, pesticide use has shifted dramatically from a 9%
share of sales in 1985 to 21% in 2008. Some of the explanation lies in the expansion of soya
bean production, which dominates parts of the subcontinent. Soya beans now cover 16.6
million ha or 50% of the cropping area of Argentina. Pesticide application there reached
270 million liters in 2007; in the same year, in the neighboring Brazil, also a major soya
bean producer, application reached 650 million liters. Soya beans are mainly exported to
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