The EU Regulation 2019/1009 was a topic of discussion at the ACI’s Biostimulants Europe Summit in Seville last week.
The new governance, which took effect in July, identifies seven different types of fertilizing products, with plant biostimulants being named as its own individual category.
“The regulation will allow for the harmonization of product registration across all countries in the European Union (EU), but there are difficulties in the registration process and bringing products to market,” says Aneesa Moolla, Project Manager in our Agrochemicals sector. “Both concerns were highlighted at the ACI summit.”
Still, Moolla says, the regulation will deliver a world of good to biostimulants. “The initiative will bring more knowledge about product benefits, and suppliers are hoping that they will soon be seen as a necessary input for farmers rather than an additional input for only those who can afford them,” she says.
One of the biggest incentives for farmers to use biostimulants: the rising costs of traditional fertilizers. The COVID-19 pandemic impacted the market so profoundly — slowing production and disrupting the supply chain — that fertilizer prices increased by up to 80%; the Russian-Ukraine conflict then further increased prices by 30%.
Biostimulants are already on the upswing; in fact, the market is seeing a double-digit annual growth forecast over the next decade. Currently, Kline estimates the global biostimulants and biofertlizers market value to be USD 2.1 billion in 2022; that figure is based on sales in nine countries where biostimulant use is highly developing.
“Spain and Italy have grown approximately 23% and 19% annually since 2019, respectively,” Moolla notes. “The EU has seen sales soar as countries move away from traditional chemical inputs thanks, in part, to the Green New Deal, which aims to reduce fertilizer usage by 20% by 2030.”
In addition, the industry is seeing significant investments from all major agrochemical suppliers. The most recent: Corteva Agriscience planning to acquire Stoller. Stoller has been ranked as one of the largest suppliers in this industry; our upcoming study, Global Biostimulants and Biofertilizers, shows that the company has a strong prevalence of sales in Brazil and the U.S.
For more information on the subject of biostimulants and biofertilizers, be on the lookout for the aforementioned report, which is set to be published in the coming weeks. It will cover sales in nine countries: Brazil, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, United Kingdom, United States, and Spain; sales by major brands, suppliers and active ingredients across six different crop segments will also be examined.
