India is the fourth largest producer of agrochemicals in the world, after the US, Japan, and China, accounting for around 15% of the global agrochemicals market. The agrochemicals business in India is currently valued at $5.5 billion, with a CAGR of 8.3%.
As a leading exporter from India to over 25 countries globally, Astec has built a strong reputation for manufacturing quality crop protection products, through its innovation focus and capabilities in the agrochemicals domain.
Through our new R&D Center, we intend to transform our growth journey to make Astec a preferred choice when it comes to custom manufacturing.
Triazoles are versatile, biologically active compounds with a vast spectrum of applications. Triazole compounds are widely used as broad-spectrum fungicides for field crops; as foliar treatment for the control of scab, powdery mildew, shot-hole, blossom blight, rust; as seed treatment for the control of seed and soil-borne diseases in cotton and maize, and grains such as barley, rice and wheat; as a post-harvest drench; as a food additive and wood preservative.
Herbicides form a key product line at Astec. We commissioned a new, dedicated herbicide plant with high potency section in August 2021. We are also augmenting our existing facilities in one of our existing plants to expand our herbicides production capacity to 1,000MTPA, so as to meet demand growth. We are expanding the current portfolio to sulfonylureas along with in-house manufacturing of pyrimidines. These are part of Astec's ambitious plans to diversify its product portfolio and augment manufacturing capacity in the agrochemicals space.
Insecticides, with more than 50% of the domestic agrochemical market, dominate the Indian crop protection market. With increasing focus to enhance average crop yield per hectare, Astec LifeSciences is poised to leverage its existing capabilities and cater to industry's demand. Additionally, as we continue to cater household insecticides industry, we are nicely positioned to further enhance our offerings.
Specialty chemicals comprise nearly 50% of India's chemicals sector exports and is a focus area for Astec. We are poised to tap into this fast-growing segment and be a partner of choice for customers around the world. Through capex investments in manufacturing and a focus on R&D, we are now ready with a wider and more diversified offerings portfolio in the specialty chemicals space, for both current and potential clients in the global chemicals industry. Our approach to delivering improved cost and process efficiencies, backed by digitisation and automation, and supported by a pool of talented professionals, is aimed at building relationships that endure and inspire trust.
We manufacture active ingredients and intermediates to suit the requirements of disparate industries. With exclusive arrangements to protect intellectual property, we have an established relationship with Asian and western multinationals. Take advantage of our years of experience, technological excellence and wide spectrum of customised formulations.