The 2021 Glyphosate Price Increase
Over the past year we have seen significant increases in the prices of many products, glyphosate based herbicides being one of the most affected. ProGreen has absorbed these increases for as long as possible, unfortunately it has now reached the point where we must pass on some of this increase to the end user. The price increases have been as a result of a series of events that have occurred during the past year causing scarcity for the product.
What has caused the price increase?
In mid-2020 the first cases of Covid-19 started to emerge in China. This resulted in the panic buying of healthy glyphosate stocks by large multinational businesses who wanted to cover any period of disrupted production. At this stage, it was found that stock levels were still safe and so prices returned to a pre-pandemic level. Shortly thereafter the Yang-Tze River in China experienced flash flooding. Approximately 60% of the world’s glyphosate supply comes from China and during these floods several agrochemical industries were affected, further disrupting the production of glyphosate. This resulted in another price increase but this time it stuck.
By January 2021 the prices of glyphosate had rocketed to the highest they had been for a decade. This wasn’t helped by the return of the Covid-19 pandemic to the Hubei Province. This specific area of China is one of the main production locations for the glyphosate industry and so when lockdowns were implemented and factories closed, production of glyphosate was being hugely outstripped by demand. This has not only resulted in price increases but also scarcity of glyphosate products.
Other factors that have contributed to this issue are the closures of ports and sea lanes due to the Covid-19 pandemic causing shortages, delays and price increases. Alongside this, there has been a price increase for the raw materials glycine and phosphate, which make up glyphosate. These global issues have been further compounded by the local effects of Brexit, particularly the reduction in foreign workers, lorry drivers and increased cost in importing product into the UK via land routes.
What does this mean for glyphosate products?
As a result of all of the factors listed above many glyphosate products have doubled in price. ProGreen has absorbed as much of this increase as possible but unfortunately we have now had to take the decision to increase prices on all glyphosate products. Alongside this there is a wide spread scarcity of these total weed killers – thankfully ProGreen is one of the few online stores to still have their full range of glyphosate weed killers still available. These stocks are however limited so for the moment we are running a “while stocks last” message on all listings.
While it is a shock that these prices have increased, when you look back to the 1970’s, 360g/L of glyphosate retailed at £70 per 5L. This is more than double the price it sells at today!
Why can't I just use a non-glyphosate option?
Using a non-glyphosate weed killer is an option and we do have a number of them available with healthy supply. It is important to note that these products are not systemic and are based on concentrated acids, due to this they are often not as effective as glyphosate and will cost significantly more. New-Way Weed Spray is a non-glyphosate total weed killer based on Acetic Acid. Using this product to cover a 100m2 area would cost you £17.13 whereas if you were to use a glyphosate such as Gallup Biograde Amenity, it would cost you roughly £0.10 to cover the same area.
If you are in need of glyphosate weed killer, click here to explore what we have to offer.
