Dithane Now Part of UPL: What This Means for Agrochemical Industry and Fungicide Market
30 January 2025, New Delhi: In a major development for the global crop protection industry, UPL Corporation Ltd. (UPL Corp) announced in April 2024, the completion of its acquisition of Corteva Agriscience’s solo mancozeb business, including the widely recognized Dithane brand. This move strengthens UPL’s foothold in the multisite fungicide market, ensuring that farmers worldwide continue to have access to effective and reliable disease control solutions.
The acquisition comes at a time when disease management in agriculture is becoming increasingly complex due to rising pathogen resistance, evolving regulatory requirements, and the growing demand for sustainable crop protection methods. With this strategic move, UPL enhances its position in the global fungicide market, expands its product portfolio, and gains a competitive edge in an industry that is witnessing rapid shifts.
Understanding the Acquisition
This deal involves the transfer of Corteva’s solo mancozeb formulations, including Dithane®, to UPL Corp, while Corteva retains ownership of its premix formulations that contain mancozeb combined with other active ingredients. As part of the agreement, UPL now has access to Corteva’s full regulatory scientific dossier for mancozeb, including all relevant data, registrations, trademarks, and a license to the Rainshield™ technology, which enhances the rainfastness of fungicides, ensuring longer-lasting protection for crops.
By acquiring these regulatory assets, UPL is in a stronger position to navigate the complex registration processes that often delay market access for crop protection products. With this acquisition, the company gains the ability to accelerate expansion efforts and ensure uninterrupted availability of mancozeb-based fungicides to farmers worldwide. The deal also reinforces UPL’s ability to address the needs of growers in regions where mancozeb is a critical component of disease management strategies, particularly in crops such as potatoes, grapes, bananas, soybeans, and rice.
The Legacy of Dithane®
Dithane® has been a cornerstone in global agriculture for over five decades, trusted by farmers across continents for its broad-spectrum disease protection. It has consistently proven effective against a range of fungal infections, including early and late blight, downy mildew, rusts, leaf spots, and anthracnose, making it an essential tool for protecting food crops. The reason for its continued success lies in its multi-site mode of action, which disrupts multiple metabolic pathways in fungal cells, reducing the likelihood of resistance development. This distinguishes it from many systemic fungicides that target only a single biological process, making them more susceptible to resistance issues over time.
Beyond its effectiveness, Dithane® is known for its high margin of crop safety, making it suitable for use on more than 70 crops across diverse climatic conditions. With the added advantage of Rainshield™ technology, it remains on plant surfaces longer, even after rainfall, providing extended protection against fungal infections. It also degrades rapidly in the environment, minimizing residue concerns and ensuring compliance with stringent food safety standards. By bringing Dithane® under its umbrella, UPL ensures that this trusted solution remains accessible to farmers worldwide while also driving further innovation in the fungicide sector.
The Significance of Mancozeb in Global Agriculture
Mancozeb, the active ingredient in Dithane®, is a dithiocarbamate fungicide that has played a critical role in ensuring global food security for decades. It works by forming a protective barrier on plant surfaces, preventing fungal infections before they take hold. This preventive action makes it an invaluable tool for farmers looking to manage fungal diseases effectively. Unlike some newer fungicides that act on specific biochemical pathways, mancozeb works by disrupting multiple enzyme functions in fungal cells. This multi-site action makes it a powerful weapon in combating pathogen resistance, a growing concern in modern agriculture.
Mancozeb is widely used in fruits, vegetables, cereals, oilseeds, and cash crops, including wheat, soybeans, corn, rice, tea, coffee, and cotton. Its broad applicability, affordability, and low toxicity to non-target organisms have made it a preferred choice for farmers, particularly in developing economies where access to alternative fungicides is often limited. Despite increasing regulatory scrutiny in certain regions, it remains one of the most effective and economically viable disease management solutions available today.
Market Dynamics and UPL’s Position
The global mancozeb market was valued at USD 1.78 billion in 2023 and is projected to reach USD 2.65 billion by 2032, growing at a CAGR of 4.50%. As of 2022, global production capacity for mancozeb stood at 250,000 tons, with five key players—UPL, Corteva, Limin Chemical, Coromandel International, and Indofil Industries—controlling over 80% of the market share. Latin America is the largest consumer of mancozeb, accounting for more than 40% of global demand. This acquisition is particularly significant for UPL as it allows the company to strengthen its presence in high-demand markets while securing its position as a dominant player in the multisite fungicide segment.
UPL’s acquisition of Dithane® brings multiple strategic advantages. It not only expands the company’s reach in key agricultural regions but also creates opportunities for cross-selling with other UPL products. The deal enhances operational efficiencies by integrating Dithane® into UPL’s existing manufacturing and distribution network, allowing for better cost management and improved profitability. By gaining access to Corteva’s regulatory dossier, UPL can streamline product registrations in multiple countries, accelerating its expansion strategy.
A Strategic Leap for UPL and the Future of Crop Protection
The acquisition of Dithane® marks a pivotal moment for UPL, reinforcing its commitment to sustainable agriculture and innovative crop protection solutions. With a growing global population and increasing agricultural challenges, farmers need reliable tools to protect their crops and ensure food security. This acquisition strengthens UPL’s ability to meet these challenges head-on by delivering tried-and-tested solutions backed by decades of scientific research.
With access to Corteva’s scientific dossier, registrations, and Rainshield™ technology, UPL is now in a position to expand market reach, drive innovations in fungicide technology, and support farmers with trusted, effective disease management solutions. By securing one of the most recognized brands in the fungicide industry, UPL has solidified its status as a global leader in fungicide innovation and resistance management. As the agricultural landscape evolves, this move ensures that farmers continue to have access to solutions that are not only effective but also aligned with the principles of sustainable and responsible farming.
Also Read: https://www.en.krishakjagat.org/crop-protection/exclusive-why-is-mancozeb-important-for-upl/
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