March 21, 2020. Pesticide intermediates are fine chemicals. Pesticide intermediates are produced by processing agricultural raw materials. They are intermediate media that combine two or more substances together. In pesticides, they can be understood as synergists and intermediate materials for pesticide production. With the development of new pesticides in China, the development of some special intermediates is fast, such as fluorine-containing, cyano-containing and heterocycle containing intermediates. Among them, pyrethroid pesticide intermediates, such as pyrethroid, dichloropyrethric acid, butyric acid, ether aldehyde and allyl alcohol ketone, are more prominent. These intermediates are mainly produced in Shanghai, Zhejiang, Jiangsu and Shandong.

China is the main producer and supplier of pesticide fine chemical intermediates in the world, and its development prospect is very broad. Among them, 1,2,4-trichlorobenzene, o-cresol, catechol and nonylphenol are the most important pesticide intermediates. 1,2,4-trichlorobenzene is mainly used in the synthesis of pesticides such as dicamba, dicofol, sodium pentachlorophenol, pentachlorophenol, etc.; o-cresol is mainly used in the synthesis of high-efficiency herbicides; catechol is an important intermediate of carbofuran, propoxur and acetochlor; nonylphenol is a multi-purpose non-ionic surfactant, which is widely used in pesticide emulsifier; M-cresol is mainly used in the synthesis of pesticides and insecticides.

In recent years, due to the development and application of its downstream products at home and abroad, there is a strong demand for high purity 1,2,4-trichlorobenzene in the international market. In addition, due to the prohibition and restriction of lindane use, the traditional raw materials of Trichlorobenzene are decreasing day by day in developed countries and regions abroad, and the production of organochlorine products is also gradually reduced, which also leads to the shortage of global supply of Trichlorobenzene, especially high-purity 1,2,4-trichlorobenzene. These factors provide a good opportunity for the production and development of 1,2,4-trichlorobenzene in China. The new carbamate insecticides produced by catechol, such as carbofuran, propoxur and acetamivir, are recommended by the World Health Organization as excellent varieties of household and warehouse pest control pesticides due to their low toxicity and good effect, and the market demand will gradually increase. Nonylphenol is the largest product of alkylphenol. It has good functions of decontamination, wetting and penetration, dispersion, solubilization and emulsification. It is widely used in pesticide emulsifier and is the most important intermediate in petrochemical industry and organic synthesis industry. However, the market demand for m-cresol has basically maintained an average annual growth rate of 8% - 10%, with a stable development rate. In addition, because fine chemical industry has the advantages of functionalization, high performance, special flowers and high added value, it is a low-carbon, environment-friendly process, and a general path to achieve the national energy-saving and emission reduction goals and develop low-carbon economy, so the state attaches great importance to it. It is also very beneficial to the development of fine chemical pesticide intermediate industry.

The upstream of pesticide intermediates are inorganic raw materials such as yellow phosphorus and liquid chlorine, and basic organic raw materials such as methanol and triphenyl, which are used in agriculture, forestry and animal husbandry production and health field after being made into pesticide technical medicines. Agricultural intermediates are located in the middle of the industrial chain, belonging to the fine chemical industry, which is highly dependent on technology, with large R & D investment, long cycle, high risk and low success rate.

Therefore, China's fine chemical pesticide intermediates industry has a very good development prospect under the dual favorable influence of market demand and government's encouraging development.