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The worldwide agricultural and noncrop herbicide market had annual sales of $14-17 billion in 2001. The United States made up $6 billion of those sales. In the past decade, consumption of herbicides has increased slightly mainly because of the increase in planted acreage to meet population growth. Through the year 2006, consumption is expected to decrease because of the introduction of newer herbicides with more highly active ingredients.
In 2001, the global market for agricultural herbicides surpassed $14 billion. Additionally, the esti- mated global market for noncrop herbicides is $3 billion. Noncrop herbicides refers to usage by the home and garden markets and usage in industrial, governmental and commercial use. U.S. agricultural ($4.9 billion) and noncrop ($1.1 billion) herbicide sales reached $6.0 billion at the end-user level (formulated product basis). Sales at the manufacturer level were about $5.3 billion. There were about 120 herbicides used in the United States in 2001. By the year 2006, herbicide end-user sales are expected to be $6.3 billion (in 2001 dollar terms) or $5.5 billion at the manufacturer level, with an average 1.0% annual growth rate.
In terms of consumption, the U.S. agricultural and noncrop herbicide market makes up 35% of the value of the world market and 25% of the volume of the world market. The leading crops for herbicide usage in the United States are corn and soybeans.
In Western Europe, herbicide production has decreased steadily since 1989. The leading crop herbicide markets are cereals, sugar beets and corn. About fifty major herbicides are used in Western Europe. Most of these are produced by European-based companies. The largest herbicide markets in dollar terms are France, Germany, the United Kingdom, Spain and Italy, accounting for about 78% of the Western European market.
Herbicide supply and consumption in Japan have been declining at a 2.6% annual rate for the last five years. Planted rice acreage has been declining as Japan has reduced its subsidies to rice farmers to adjust to global market pressures. Also, rice farmers have been increasing their use of herbicides that offer more residual weed control, thus requiring fewer herbicide applications. Eighteen major herbicides are used in Japan. About half of them are imported from or are owned by non-Japanese companies. The Japanese market is not expected to have any growth over the next five years.
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