The domestic market for crop protection chemicals (PPPs) is demonstrating a steady upward trend, promptly responding to the demands of the crop production sector.
Last year, pesticide consumption in the country increased by 12%, reaching 253,000 tons. Meanwhile, Russian producers almost completely meet farmers’ basic needs.
However, behind these strong macroeconomic indicators lies a serious structural imbalance that threatens the diversification of the Russian agricultural sector.
A Dead End for Rare Crops: Why It’s Unprofitable for Producers to Protect Them
The industry’s main systemic problem remains a critical shortage of specialized products for niche crops (millet, beans, berries, and melons).
As Mikhail Danilov, CEO of Avgust, noted in an interview, the current situation in this segment can be described as a dead end. The country still has no legally defined list of such crops, and commercial registration of products for them is economically pointless.
With current high lending rates, the enormous investments made by chemical plant protection product developers in the registration process for small areas may never pay off.
The gap with global leaders is enormous: while only eight active ingredients and 14 trademarks are registered for strawberry protection in Russia, in the US this list includes 91 substances and over 350 commercial names.
Positive progress has been made by the Ministry of Agriculture, which approved reducing the biological testing period for rare crops from two years to one year and implementing the principle of their «relatedness.»
Nevertheless, the bill to simplify registration through a «single-window» process is currently stalled indefinitely in the State Duma.
Import Substitution at its Maximum and the Marginality Factor
Despite the «niche» crisis, Russia has achieved a high degree of self-sufficiency in strategic terms for its main crops.
By 2030, the country should achieve 90% domestic market self-sufficiency with domestically produced chemical plant protection products. The foundation for this is in place: in 2025, Russian pesticide plants met 76.5% of demand, with foreign brands producing another 9.5% locally, and net imports accounting for only 14%.
The combined capacity of domestic enterprises is estimated at 400,000 tons, which more than covers market needs.
Experts are confident that demand for chemical plant protection products will grow.
Firstly, farmers realize that skimping on protection reduces profitability due to declining yields. Secondly, the reduction in grain production is offset by the expansion of acreage under oilseeds and legumes, the protection of which is significantly more expensive.
However, the culture of pesticide application needs to be improved even in popular crops.
The situation with sunflowers, for example, appears paradoxical. Due to high margins, farmers often ignore fungicide treatments, yielding a meager 15-16 centners per hectare.
Only 20% of sunflower crops in the country are fully protected. However, experts point out that every ruble invested in high-quality protection yields a seven-ruble return in profit due to increased yield.
It is clear that further development of crop production will require decisive steps from the government to subsidize registration procedures, and from farmers themselves, a transition to intensive protection technologies to maintain business profitability.
