Agrochemicals: Herbicides, Insecticides & Fungicides

Agrochemicals are bought either as technical material, which formulators and registration holders turn into finished products, or as formulations packed under a label registered at destination, and every offer rests on active content against a named specification. FAO specifications, developed through the FAO/WHO Joint Meeting on Pesticide Specifications (JMPS), are the international point of reference against which products are judged for regulatory purposes and in commercial dealings: glyphosate technical at no less than 950 g/kg, 2,4-D at 960 g/kg, imidacloprid at 970 g/kg, azoxystrobin at 965 g/kg and mancozeb technical concentrate declared at 850 g/kg, each with limits on the impurities that matter. Customs follows the use for formulations - herbicides HS 3808.93, insecticides 3808.91 and fungicides 3808.92 - while technical actives are declared in chapter 29 under their chemistry, such as 2931.49 for glyphosate and 2918.99 for 2,4-D. UN Comtrade 2024 export declarations total USD 14.50 billion under 3808.93, USD 10.70 billion under 3808.91 and USD 9.74 billion under 3808.92. China declares the largest herbicide and insecticide exports, USD 5.22 billion and 2.17 million MT of herbicides and USD 2.23 billion and 550,500 MT of insecticides; India exports USD 1.55 billion of herbicides and USD 1.40 billion of insecticides, and declares the largest fungicide tonnage at 291,000 MT. Those are declared export values, not offers.

Crop protection products are supplied only where they are registered. In the EU a plant protection product may not be placed on the market or used unless it is authorised in the Member State concerned, and in the USA imported pesticides must be registered under FIFRA and declared to the EPA on a Notice of Arrival before the shipment arrives. Two conventions sit on top of national rules. Annex III of the Rotterdam Convention lists 57 chemicals, most of them pesticides, under the prior informed consent procedure: each importing Party decides whether to allow imports, exporting Parties make their exporters follow those decisions, and a Party exporting a chemical it has banned or severely restricted at home notifies the importing Party before the first shipment and annually after. The Stockholm Convention lists persistent organic pollutants for elimination. Under EU rules the label is written in the official language of the Member State and the safety data sheet, with its 16 standard headings, is supplied in that language; section 14 of the SDS sets the transport entry, for example UN 3082 or UN 3077 in Class 9 or a Class 6.1 pesticide entry. CBIL is a commodity brokerage company and brokers generic herbicides, insecticides and fungicides from Chinese and Indian producers against the producer's certificate of analysis per batch, the safety data sheet, the destination label, a certificate of origin and dangerous goods documents. Technical moves in 25 kg fibre drums or bags and formulations in 1 L bottles to 200 L drums, on FOB, CFR and CIF terms, priced per MT or litre; minimum orders are confirmed per product and pack. Send the active, formulation, strength, pack, registration number and discharge port, and the enquiry is screened and worked against it.