The Global "Agricultural Adjuvants Market" is predicted to reach at a high CAGR of 5.3% during the forecast period (2021-2028).
Adjuvants are chemical substances that are not themselves active in controlling or killing pests, but instead, are intended for improving the performance of pesticide formulations in agricultural practices. Agricultural adjuvants range from surfactants and crop oil concentrates to utility materials such as wetting agents, foaming agents, and compatibility agents. Nitrogen fertilizers such as urea and ammonium nitrate are also used as adjuvants. The Asia Pacific controlled the market for agricultural adjuvants and accounted for a decent share of global revenue in 2020, on account of numerous elements, containing growing demand for enhanced variations of crops, growing population, and the existence of countries with massive farmlands.
North America is projected to grow at a revenue-based CAGR of 2.7% for the market of agricultural adjuvants during the forecast period. This progress can be attributed to the elements such as growing attention on agricultural accomplishments in the countries such as the United States of America. and Canada. The implementation of innovative agricultural methods such as precision agriculture is projected to enhancement the demand for agrochemicals in the North American region is predicted to rise the demand for agricultural adjuvants.
The growing consumption of pesticides and increasing utilization of adjuvants with pesticides are the major drivers for the growth of the agricultural adjuvants market. The population of the world is expected to be 8.6 billion in 2030 and 9.8 billion in 2050 which will raise the food demand to the World cereal equivalent (CE) of around 10,094 million tons in 2030 and 14,886 million tons in 2050. With the rise in food demand across the globe, precision farming is being implemented. Hence, the need for pest management has been rising in both food and commercial crops to increase food production and the quality of produce. The use of pesticides witnessed significant growth in all of its forms including fungicides, herbicides, and insecticides for decades and the rising consumption of pesticides is surging the growth of the agricultural adjuvants market. Adjuvants evolved as an integral part of crop protection owing to their potential in enhancing chemical efficiency in weed control.
However, the environmental concerns associated with the use of synthetic adjuvants are limiting the market growth. The Pesticide Management Bill, 2020 was introduced in India, on March 23, 2020. It seeks to regulate the manufacture, import, sale, storage, distribution, use, and disposal of pesticides, in order to ensure the availability of safe pesticides and minimize the risk to humans, animals, and the environment. Adverse health effects have led the European Commission to recommend a ban on the use of POEA-type adjuvants in glyphosate-based herbicide products. Bio-based advancements in the market such as the development of biological surfactants are likely to support the market growth
While the global trade came to halt during the lockdowns imposed to control the spread of novel coronavirus, the food and agriculture industry has been impacted by severe freight challenges. The sales in the food industry, particularly in foodservice and HoReCas declined. This weakened business globally imposed a negative impact on the industry. Most of the agricultural and agrochemical products categories including pesticides and it, agriculture adjuvants, witnessed a decline in sales volume due to lack of demand and supply chain disruptions. Asia, Europe, and North America, which are among the most affected regions due to covid 19, are also the most dominant markets for agriculture adjuvants. This further impacted the market negatively.
The global agricultural adjuvants market has been segmented by product type into activator adjuvants and sprays utility adjuvants. The large-scale utilization along with post-emergence herbicides to improve the application characteristics and weed control activity made activator adjuvants the largest segment of agricultural adjuvants. Activator action includes reduction of spray solution surface tension to enhance contact area, solubilization of the leaf cuticle, emulsifier action, increased spray retention, protection of the herbicide in the spray solution, promotion of rain fastness, acting as a cosolvent or penetrant, modification of spray deposition on plant foliage, and enhanced movement on the foliage surface to areas of greater absorption.
Surfactants and crop oil concentrates are extensively used in farming communities to meet crop production standards in a sustainable way. Herbicides evolved as the largest use formulation for agricultural adjuvants, followed by fungicides and as herbicides are mostly water, surfactants are highly used in herbicide formulations to prevent its roll-off into the soil and hold it on targeted plant species.
By geography, the global agriculture adjuvants market is segmented into North America, South America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Middle East, and Africa. North America leads the market owing to the high usage of crop protection chemicals in the large average farmlands of 444 acres per capita. However, the Asia Pacific market is expected to grow at a rapid pace in the forecasted period owing to the practice of precision farming due to increasing population and urbanization which is resulting in increasing food demand and decreasing arable land per capita.
For instance, in India, it is estimated that the percentage of agricultural workers of the total workforce would drop to 25.7% by 2050 because of urbanization whereas the total population is expected to grow to 1.64 billion. So, it is important to adapt to methods that increase productivity from limited resources, like adjuvants. Penetration levels of pesticides are also relatively low in these countries which is expected to increase in the future and along with it, the adjuvants market will increase inevitably, since it increases the efficiency of pesticides. For instance, the total irrigated crop area in India is 215.6 million acres in 2020 and the pesticides market is $3.18 billion whereas, in the USA, the irrigated crop area is 55.9 million acres where’s pesticides market is $16.74 billion.
The global agricultural adjuvants market is fragmented with the foothold of a large number of companies and high product differentiation. However, the market is consolidated in most of the product segments with very few players holding significant shares. For instance, the market for surfactants is highly consolidated with the top 5 companies accounting for over 60% of global sales. Several major strategies acquired by the prominent companies to strengthen their position in the market are; Innovative product introduction, global, regional, and country-level expansion, enhancing of distribution network, mergers & acquisitions, and joint ventures.
KALO, Inc., BASF SE, Wilbur-Ellis Holdings, Inc., BRANDT Consolidated, Inc., Plant Health Technologies, Stepan Company, Helena Agri-Enterprises, LLC, CHS, Inc., Solvay S.A., Precision Laboratories, LLC, Evonik Industries AG, and Croda International plc.
Recent Trends in the Agricultural Adjuvants Industry:
Syngenta AG (owned by ChemChina):
The Syngenta Group, owned by ChemChina is a leading global provider of agricultural science and technology, in particular seeds and crop protection products, with its headquarters in Basel, Switzerland, and serving worldwide.
Product Portfolio of Syngenta Group: