On 19 March, 2018, the Ministry of Commerce of China (MOFCOM) finally ruled that dumping was found in methyl isobutyl ketone (MIBK) imported from South Korea, Japan and South Africa. The Tariff and Classification Committee of the State Council decided that starting from 20 March, anti-dumping tax shall be levied on MIBK originated from the above three countries. Compared with the first rule, there was some changes in the anti-dumping tax in the final one.

On 20 March 2018, Yuan Longping High-Tech Agriculture Co., Ltd. (Longping High-Tech) announced its signing of an Initiators’ Agreement on Xianlong Biotechnology Co., Ltd. with China National Agrochemical Co., Ltd. under China National Chemical Corporation (ChemChina) in Changsha City, Hunan Province. They agreed to make joint investments to establish Xianlong Biotechnology Co., Ltd., of which ChemChina will invest USD7.9 million, making up 50% of the shares and Longping High-Tech USD7.9 million also, accounting for 50% of the shares.

On 6 March, Zhongnongfa Seed Industry Group Ltd. (Zhongnongfa Seed) published a notice about the update of the sale of the 67% shares of Zhongnongfa Henan Agrochemical Co., Ltd. (Henan Agrochemical). In detail, by 1 March, 2018, no transferre party had appeared. To finish the transfer, Zhongnongfa Seed had decided to lower the bottom price by 10% and list it with the price of USD42.6 million on 5 March.

On 19 March, 2018, the National Agro-Tech Extension and Service Center (NATESC) published the prediction report on wheat diseases and pests, according to which along with the rising temperature, wheat diseases and pests strike the crop from south to north China gradually. The strike by sheath blight and wheat mites is serious in some parts of Huanghuai, and stripe rust enters the spreading phase in Southwest China and the Han River Realm. By 15 March, the stricken area by wheat diseases and pests in China had reached 5.6 million ha, down by 25.9% year on year.

According to Jiangsu Plant Protection Plant Quarantine Station, the Ministry of Agriculture of the People’s Republic of China (MOA) is now striving for the central fiscal fund to subsidize the prevention and control of wheat scab.

On March 9, 2018, Jiangsu Huifeng Petrochemical Co., Ltd. (Huifeng Petrochemical), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Jiangsu Huifeng Bio-Agriculture Co., Ltd. (Jiangsu Huifeng), signed the Investment Cooperation Framework Agreement with Huagang Gas Group Co., Ltd., and Jiangsu Dafeng Harbor Holdings Co., Ltd.

Zhejiang Wynca Chemical Group Co., Ltd. intended to invest USD2.2 million to acquire shares of Hubei NJF Agricultural Means of Production Co., Ltd. (NJF) from its shareholders. After this transfer, it planned to take 4.50 million shares newly increased in the company at USD0.3/share by contributing USD1.3 million. Then Zhejiang Wynca will in total invest USD3.5 million and hold 12.50 million shares in NJF, making up a 51% stake.

Since the second half of 2017, under the effect of the environmental protection examination, chemical enterprises had to stop or restrict production, which caused serious short supply of pesticide technical and intermediates and low operating rate of technical enterprises. Moreover, some producers engaged in trading raised the pesticide technical prices and by Nov. 2017, they reached the highest and didn’t fall. Except for some price reduction of some special products, most pesticide technical products maintained at a high price level though the prices didn’t go up to a large extent.

On 27 Feb., 2018, the Ministry of Environmental Protection (MEP) responded to the public that the law enforcement of environmental protection cracks down illegal enterprises and supports legal ones. During the process, some law-violating and under-standard enterprises must be confronted with huge impact or even phasing out, which is a necessary regularity in economic development.

The 2018 Session of Nanjing People's Congress announced to specifically reduce coals and chemicals in Nanjing, Jiangsu Province in 2018, by shutting down 40 chemical enterprises. Meanwhile, an action will be taken to govern the chemical enterprises in the province this year.