Global Herbicide Market Expected to Reach $34.10 Billion by 2022

herbicides
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The global herbicide market is expected to reach $34.10 billion by 2022, according to a new report from Research and Markets.

Of various categories of pesticides, glyphosate, best known as the active ingredient in Monsanto’s Roundup, will see the second largest growth in volume over this period, according to the report. Bioherbicides such as those derived from fungi, bacteria, or protozoa, are expected to see the largest growth rate.

The report also shows that the global herbicide market reached $23.97 billion in 2016 and that Latin America and the Asia-Pacific regions were the top two consumers of herbicides, accounting for more than half of the market share last year. Given the rapid growth of the agriculture sector in these regions, the demand is expected to increase substantially between now and 2022.

The report did, however, note that some regulatory authorities have put stringent laws into place relating to curbing herbicide use, due to environmental and health concerns, and several highly toxic herbicides have now either been banned or are being phased out in several countries.

Glyphosate, which is one of the most widely used herbicides in the world, was found to be a probable human carcinogen by the World Health Organization in 2015, and the California Environmental Protection Agency’s Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment announced in March that the herbicide would be added to its Proposition 65 list of carcinogenic chemicals.

Most governments, however, have yet to ban glyphosate, which has been deemed non-carcinogenic by the European Food Safety Authority and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The European Commission announced last Wednesday that it would be proposing a ten-year extension of its approval, after a new study issued in March by the European Chemical Agency stated that glyphosate should not be classified as a carcinogenic substance. The EU had already granted glyphosate an 18-month extension last July pending the results of the study.

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Emily Monaco is a food and culture writer based in Paris. Her work has been featured in the Wall ... More about Emily Monaco
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