Annex 3. Output on plant protection products

Table G1 shows data from the Dutch market for plant protection products by main group during the period 2016-2022.

The market for plant protection products has been fairly stable over the years. There has been a slight downward trend the past few years. Fungicide sales are clearly going down.
There is some overlap between substances used in plant protection products and substances used in biocides. This overlap definitely applies to insecticides as well. Table G2 provides more details for insecticides in terms of breakdown by product group.

We do see some developments in the different product groups, but what we are seeing primarily is that group I99 (Other insecticides) is extremely large compared to the other product groups. It would therefore be interesting to see a breakdown by chemical class for this product group I99. CBS has not published this information yet, but Eurostat did, see Table G3.

We do see developments over time in this category as well, but what is most notable is the size of the Unclassified (I99_99) group. The amount of paraffin oil sold for insecticide and acaricide control in 2022 was fairy large at 1,776.9 tonnes. This sales figure dominates product group I99 (Other insecticides) and chemical class I99_99 (unclassified) in every year. However, there are no biocides that contain the active substance paraffin oil.

It is interesting to know what individual substances are sold on the market. Different substances have different effects. Following a lawsuit in 2019, sales figures for each substance have been published annually by the Ministry of LNV (Ministry of LNV, 2024).

In Table G4, most substances in the first 3 rows (groups 1, 2, 3) are approved substances and only 10% of the approved substances are candidates for substitution. Most substances in the last 2 rows (NCHAS and CHAS groups) are chemicals. We note that the “Not approved” (group 4) in row 4 has been steadily growing over time. Group 4 is not classified as either NCHAS or CHAS.

H(azard) Statements are not used systematically in the sale of plant protection products. Quantities of plant protection product sold are not published; the weight of excipients and the number of packages on the market are not included in the analysis.

And finally, Table G5 provides a comparison between the Dutch market and the Belgian and German markets. The German market for plant protection products is by far the largest of the three countries. The Dutch market is (slightly) larger than the Belgian market. The differences and similarities are different for each main group. If we look at Insecticides, we see that the Dutch market is 6 times larger than the Belgian market. Even if we subtract paraffin oil sales in the Netherlands and Belgium, the market for insecticides is still 2 times larger in the Netherlands.