Zhang Jinlong is a independent researcher with more than 20 years of experience in China’s agrochemical industry and over 15 years working with registration and sales for the Brazilian market. He specializes in product development, registration and Sales and Operations Planning (S&OP) management.
Chinese pesticide technical prices rose again in the week to September 20th, with glyphosate 95% technical grade quoted at RMB 28,500/t (approximately US$ 4,250/tonne) and the Sino-Agri technical price index at 73.40, up 2.55% month on month.
The move follows a cost-accounting notice issued around September 10th by the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) and the State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR), aimed at below-cost selling of important industrial products.
The notice
The Notice on Cost Accounting for Below-Cost Disorderly Competition in Important Industrial Products sets out who measures cost, on what basis, and by what method. NDRC and SAMR may conduct cost investigations; provincial authorities work under national guidance; industry associations may calculate sector average costs; and individual operators may calculate their own unit costs. Where an operator-specific cost cannot be calculated directly, an industry average may be used. Accounting must be based on audited books or other complete records and reflect factors such as capacity utilisation.
The framework supplies regulators with a reference cost against which below-cost selling can be demonstrated — the operating backbone of China’s campaign against involutionary competition, now applied to industrial inputs.
Prices move
On September 20th, glyphosate 95% technical grade was quoted at RMB 28,500/t (approximately US$ 4,250/tonne). Producers held firm, and quotations were withdrawn at times during the week.
On September 15th, Xingfa Group (600141.SH) told its results briefing that operating rates across the glyphosate industry are normal, and that the seasonal demand recovery should support a steady rise in prices. Market participants read the glyphosate adjustment alongside the cost-accounting framework; the two are concurrent rather than officially linked, and the notice sets an enforcement floor rather than a price.
Other actives moved in the same direction. Glufosinate 95% technical grade reached RMB 60,000/t (approximately US$ 8,950/tonne), a monthly gain of 12.24%; chlorantraniliprole 96% technical grade rose RMB 35,000 (approximately US$ 5,220) in a single week to RMB 265,000/t (approximately US$ 39,520/tonne) on tight supply and production controls.
The cost floor has also been raised by the removal, with effect from April 1st, 2026, of export rebates on glufosinate, refined glufosinate and several other technical products.
For Brazil and other Latin American import markets, the movement is particularly relevant because China remains a major supplier of crop protection inputs. In 2025, China was Brazil’s largest source of imported crop protection products and accounted for more than half of the volume of technical products entering the country. If the current price movement persists, higher Chinese quotations could eventually affect import costs and purchasing strategies in the region. For now, however, the movement is still too recent to indicate a sustained increase in prices for Brazilian or Latin American buyers.
Two qualifications
First, quotations are not transactions. Glufosinate was quoted at an East China market price of RMB 51,500/t (approximately US$ 7,680/tonne) on September 7th and at a producer quotation of RMB 60,000/t (approximately US$ 8,950/tonne) two weeks later. The direction is consistent; the levels are not interchangeable.
Second, cost-side pressure explains why prices stopped falling. It does not by itself show that export demand has recovered: overseas enquiry has improved, but order flow has not returned to a level that would confirm a durable upturn.
Figure 1. Left: month-on-month movement in the Sino-Agri technical price index by segment, September 20th, 2026. Right: headline technical grade quotations on the same date.