Weedicide prices set to soar

The price rise is expected to be as high as 30%

Crop protection product prices are set to go up in the ensuing kharif season on account of rising input costs while the same is expected to be as high as 30 per cent in case of weedicides, according to Garg V K, general manager of Insecticides (India) Limited.

"The price rise will range from 5-30 per cent across the segments as the cost of chemical inputs that are being mostly imported from China has gone up in the recent times," Garg said here today. However, growing demand is at play in respect of weedicides as the manual weeding in farms has been hit by labour shortage or high labour costs in rural areas.

While the Rs 10,000-crore Indian pesticide market is growing at 8-10 per cent annually, the growth in weedicide sales was 30-40 per cent. Weedicides now account for over 30 per cent of the total pesticide consumption as compared with less than 5 per cent in the last decade, Garg said.