Glyphosate prices have seen a significant increase, leading to a surge in popularity within the pesticide active ingredient market

07/31/2025 16:47:32

Recently, the price of glyphosate has seen a significant increase. As a major pesticide product, its subtle upward trend has garnered widespread attention in the market.
According to data from Baichuan, as of July 28th, the market price of glyphosate is around 26,000 yuan/ton, an increase of 3,000 yuan/ton from the price of 23,000 yuan/ton at the beginning of May. As the world's largest herbicide, the price fluctuation of glyphosate has always been driven by marginal changes in "demand - supply". The core driving force behind this round of price increase can be attributed to the demand resonance of "domestic demand as a foundation + external demand explosion".
From the supply side, in the first half of this year, due to environmental protection-related production restrictions and fluctuations in hydropower supply, the prices of glycine and yellow phosphorus rose sharply, leading to a significant increase in raw material costs for enterprises. Some small and medium-sized production capacities were forced to shut down due to losses, and the overall operating rate of the industry continued to decline. At the same time, coupled with the disturbance of rumors of production suspension by the American giant Monsanto, against the backdrop of "low inventory + full orders", leading enterprises such as Xingfa Group and Xin'an Stock actively adopted the "limited shipment" strategy, and some enterprises even issued "August suspension of receiving orders" notices, further boosting the market sentiment of holding back sales and driving up prices.
On the demand side, since May, major sales regions such as South America and Southeast Asia have successively entered the peak season for agricultural pesticides. In particular, procurement demand from countries like Brazil and Argentina has been concentrated and released, leading to a rapid increase in export orders for glyphosate enterprises. The quantity of glyphosate exported from China to South America has significantly increased, effectively driving up prices.
It is reported that with the recent price increase, the gross profit margin of the glyphosate industry has started to turn positive. As of July 16th, the gross profit margin of the glyphosate industry stood at 2.54%, with a gross profit of 666 yuan per ton. Recently, Xingfa Group stated on its interactive platform that the rise in glyphosate prices has a positive impact on the company's agricultural chemical business. However, the specific amount of increased profits requires a comprehensive consideration of various factors such as the company's production capacity, cost structure, market sales strategy, and industry competition. If only considering the production capacity factor, an increase of 1,000 yuan per ton in glyphosate prices is expected to add approximately 200 million yuan per year to the company's profits.
Industry insiders analyze that in the early stage, the glyphosate market faced strong supply and weak demand, resulting in low prices and significant cost pressures, with most active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) operating at a loss. However, with the improvement in demand driving up prices, glyphosate has turned from a loss to a profit. Supported by robust supply and demand, there is still potential for an increase in glyphosate prices in the short term, and its market dynamics will continue to be closely monitored both within and outside the industry.