Page 176 - CW E-Magazine (6-8-2024)
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Special Report                                                                                                                                                                   Special Report
                                                                                                                                                            PBILDT MARGIN (%)

                                                                                                                        22.00
       Agrochemicals industry in India: Beyond the grey skies?                                                       rebates to distributors, leading  to a  respectively.  During  FY21  and  FY22,   led to lower demand  and pricing
                                                                                                                                                                  20.02
                                                                                                                                                                              19.22
                                                                                                                     price  reduction.  Unfortunately,  this  domestic players capitalised on global   pressure;
                                                                                                                        20.00

       Synopsis                                                                                                      decline in exports, combined with chan-  demand by charging a premium on their   High-cost inventory; and
                                                                                                                                 17.77
                                                                                                                                                       17.74
                                                                                                                                                                                             Substantial rebates offered to push
                                                                                                                                                                                         
             espite the near-term challenges,                                                                        nel destocking and  pricing pressure,  products, resulting in substantial pro- 17.69
                                                                                                                        18.00
             the Indian  agrochemicals     100                                                        50%            negatively  affected  the  Total  Operat-  fi ts. The moderation in FY23 was due to   sales.
                                                                                                                                            16.52
                                            90
       Dindustry  (excluding  fertilisers)   80                                                       40%            ing Income (TOI), resulting in a 16.3%  the impact of declining prices, leading
                                                                                                                        16.00
       is envisaged to grow by 7-9% in FY25   70                                  78              69  30%            decrease  in  FY24.  Looking  ahead,  to  inventory  losses,  especially  in  the   Additionally,  with  China’s  resur-
                                                                                                                                                                                                               13.75
       led by robust domestic demand, import   In '000 INR Crores  60  57  68             65          20%            CareEdge  expects  a  moderate  recovery  second half of FY23.      gence,  prices  have  reverted  to  pre-
                                            50
                                                                                                                        14.00
       substitution,  adoption  of  a  ‘China+1’   40      49                                         10%            in  exports  for  FY25,  projecting  growth                         COVID levels, thereby exerting pressure
                                                                                                                                                                                                    12.23
       policy, India’s low-cost manufacturing   30  35                                                0%             of approximately 7-9% compared to the   However, in FY24, operating mar-  on India’s exports, as refl ected in FY24.
                                            20
                                                                                                                        12.00
       advantage,  and  opportunities  arising   10                                                   -10%           previous year.                    gins  were  signifi cantly  impacted,
       from off-patent agrochemical products.     0                                                   -20%                                             declining  to  12.23%.  This  decline   Export  demand,  particularly  from
                                                 FY19    FY20    FY21   FY22    FY23    FY24   FY25 (E)              Navigating the headwinds          stemmed from several factors:     Latin  America,  North  America,  and
                                                                                                                        10.00
          After  recording  a  remarkable              Total Sales  Exports  Domestic  Growth in TOI                    The agrochemical  industry main-     The El Niño phenomenon disrupted  Europe,  faced  challenges  due  to  sub-
                                                                                                                                                                  FY21
                                                                                                                                 FY18
                                                                                                                                            FY19
                                                                                                                                                       FY20
                                                                                                                                                                                                   FY24
                                                                                                                                                                                                            FY25 (E)
                                                                                                                                                                                        FY23
                                                                                                                                                                             FY22

       growth  in  FY22-FY23  driven  by             Fig. 1: Financials of top 24 agrochemical companies in India     tained  healthy  operating  profi tabi-  weather patterns and affected crop  dued demand and prolonged destock-
       exports, FY24 saw a signifi cant 20.3%   Source: CareEdge                                                      lity  margins  of  20.02%,  19.22%,  and   yields;                  ing by global industry leaders. Notably,


       year-on-year decline in exports due to                                                                        17.69%  in  FY21,  FY22,  and  FY23,   Global destocking with oversupply  55%  to  60%  of  India’s  agrochemical
       channel destocking  and  pricing pres-  30                                                     21
                                                                                                      19
       sure  from  China’s  re-entry  into  the   25                                                  17                                                    PBILDT MARGIN (%)
       market. To address channel destocking,   20                                                    15               22.00
       major exporters offered rebates to distri-  15                                                 13  in %                                                    20.02      19.22
       butors, resulting in a price reduction   In '000 Crores  10                                    11               20.00
       and pressure on operating profi tability   5                                                    9 7                        17.77                 17.74                            17.69
       during  FY24.  Domestic  demand  also   0                                                      5                18.00                16.52
       saw a decline of 19.3% due to the lower   Q1  Q2  Q3  Q4   Q1  Q2   Q3   Q4  Q1   Q2  Q3   Q4                   16.00
       prices offered by Chinese suppliers and        FY22              FY23              FY24                                                                                                                13.75
       impact of El Niño.                                       Total Revenue  Operating Margin                        14.00
                                               Fig. 2: Quarterly trend in revenue of top 24 agrochemical companies in India                                                                        12.23
          De-stocking began in H2FY24, exer-   Source: CareEdge                                                        12.00
       ting  pressure  on  sales  volumes  and   by  an  impressive  28%,  followed  by   After  recording  impressive  dou-
       potentially causing price erosion. Higher   relatively  moderate  growth  in  FY23.  ble-digit  quarter-on-quarter  (Q-o-Q)   10.00
       inventory  levels  amid  falling  input   This positive trend can be attributed to  growth up to Q2FY23, revenues have    FY18       FY19       FY20       FY21       FY22       FY23       FY24     FY25 (E)
       costs led to inventory losses. However,   consistent  capacity  expansion,  robust  experienced  a  signifi cant  downward                 Fig. 3: Margin trends of top 24 agrochemical companies in India

       with  the  subsiding  of  destocking  and   exports,  and  steady  domestic  demand  trend. This shift began in Q3FY23 with   Source: CareEdge
       stability in prices, recovery is expected   post-pandemic.  Over  the  period  from  just 3% Q-o-Q de-growth, followed by
       from H2FY25 as input costs and reali-  FY21 to FY24, the industry maintained  a steeper decline of 27% in Q1FY24 on   Prices of major Fungicide       Prices of major Herbicide       Prices of major Insecticide
       sations normalise.                a robust compound annual growth rate  a Q-o-Q basis. While Q2FY24 showed            molecules (in USD/kg)            molecules (in USD/kg)            molecules (in USD/kg)
                                         (CAGR) of 16%.                   some signs of recovery, this was short-
          Despite  the  envisaged  moderate                               lived as Q3FY24 brought another set-          50                               100                             100
       revenue growth in FY25, the profi tabi-  However,  in  FY24,  exports  faced  back  with  a  15%  revenue  decrease.   40                           50                              50
       lity of the sector is expected to recover;   a  signifi cant  year-on-year  decline  of  Headwinds, both in the domestic  and   30
       albeit  remaining  lower  than  in  FY23.   20.36%,  dropping  from  Rs.13,788-  the international markets, dragged   20                            0                               0
       The overall credit profi le of companies   crore  in  FY23  to  Rs.11,456-crore. This  down the industry’s revenues over the   10
       operating in the  Indian agrochemicals   decline  was  primarily  infl uenced  by  past few quarters. However, with reco-  0                            Jun-20  Oct-20  Feb-21  Jun-21  Oct-21  Feb-22  Jun-22  Oct-22  Feb-23  Jun-23  Oct-23  Feb-24  Jun-20  Oct-20  Feb-21  Jun-21  Oct-21  Feb-22  Jun-22  Oct-22  Feb-23  Jun-23  Oct-23  Feb-24
       industry is expected to remain stable.  channel destocking and pricing pres-  very  in  Q4FY24,  led  by  an  improve-  Jun-20  Oct-20  Feb-21  Jun-21  Oct-21  Feb-22  Jun-22  Oct-22  Feb-23  Jun-23  Oct-23  Feb-24
                                         sure  resulting  from  China’s  re-entry  ment  in  volumes,  the  industry’s  rev-                                         Glyphosate 95%                   Bifenthrin 97%
       Turbulent FY24 after a period     into  the  market.  A  similar  decline  of  enues are expected to gradually recover      Difenoconazole 96%                Glufosinate 95%                  Imidacloprid 96%
       of growth                         around 19.34% was noticed at a domes-  in FY25, largely from H2FY25.
          India’s  agrochemical  industry  tic level mainly due to cheaper prices                                                  Tebuconazole 97%                  2,4-D 98%                        Lufenuron 97%
       achieved  remarkable  growth  in  FY22   offered to the farmers by Chinese pro-  To  mitigate  the  impact  of  channel                         Fig. 4: Price trends for some key agrochemicals
                                                                                                                                                             Prices of major Herbicide
                                                                                                                            Prices of major Fungicide
       and  FY23.  In  FY22,  exports  surged   ducts and impact of El Niño.  destocking,  major  exporters  offered   Source: China Crop Protection Industry Association and CareEdge       Prices of major Insecticide
                                                                                                                             molecules (in USD/kg)            molecules (in USD/kg)            molecules (in USD/kg)
                                                                                                                       50
       176                                                                     Chemical Weekly  August 6, 2024       Chemical Weekly  August 6, 2024     100                             100                         177
                                                                                                                       40
                                                                                                                       30                                 50                              50
                                      Contents    Index to Advertisers    Index to Products Advertised
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                                                                                                                       10                                  0                               0
                                                                                                                        0                                     Jun-20  Oct-20  Feb-21  Jun-21  Oct-21  Feb-22  Jun-22  Oct-22  Feb-23  Jun-23  Oct-23  Feb-24  Jun-20  Oct-20  Feb-21  Jun-21  Oct-21  Feb-22  Jun-22  Oct-22  Feb-23  Jun-23  Oct-23  Feb-24
                                                                                                                            Jun-20  Oct-20  Feb-21  Jun-21  Oct-21  Feb-22  Jun-22  Oct-22  Feb-23  Jun-23  Oct-23  Feb-24  Glyphosate 95%  Bifenthrin 97%
                                                                                                                                   Difenoconazole 96%                Glufosinate 95%                 Imidacloprid 96%
                                                                                                                                   Tebuconazole 97%                  2,4-D 98%                       Lufenuron 97%
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