In 2022, Firma August JSC expanded the range of active components for pesticides produced at the August-Hubei plant in China. In addition to propiconazole and tebuconazole, which are intended for drugs to combat plant diseases, three more active ingredients have been launched into production: metamitron, imazamox and bentazon. These are the active ingredients for weed control products. The company's products are supplied not only to the production sites of the company "August" in Russia and the Republic of Belarus, but also to foreign customers.
The investment project for the creation of its own production for the synthesis of active ingredients for pesticides of the company "August" was launched in 2015. It was implemented as a Russian-Chinese joint venture (JV), which was officially named Hubei Avgust Pesticide Co. Ltd. On the Russian side, the founder of the joint venture was JSC Firm "August", on the Chinese side - the research and production company Jiangsu Agrochem Laboratory Co. Ltd. (JAL Co.), one of the leading pesticide manufacturers in China.
“In 2020, the first workshop of the plant was launched, where the first batches of active ingredients for fungicidal drugs, propiconazole and tebuconazole, were produced. Production is expanding in stages: to date, eight buildings of production workshops have been built at the August-Hubei site, four of which are already involved in the manufacture of products, in the fifth, installation of equipment for the production of new types of active substances has begun, ”says Vyacheslav Astafiev, Deputy Director of JSC Firm "August" for work with partners in China.
A total of 32 buildings were erected at the site of the plant, including an administrative building, an amenity building for workers with a canteen, a laboratory, a compressor and pumping station, a wastewater treatment plant, an infrastructure for the disposal of solid and liquid waste, as well as for thermal decomposition of waste gases. It is important to note that in 2022 the company successfully passed several environmental safety audits. In addition, two warehouse buildings for finished products were built this year, which are currently awaiting commissioning. Despite the consequences of the energy crisis and fluctuations in the cost of raw materials in international markets, the plant continues to develop.
Since the beginning of 2022, August-Hubei has produced 817 tons of propiconazole and 182 tons of tebuconazole, as well as new types of products: 60 tons of metamitron and 23 tons of imazamox. Another active substance, bentazon, is currently at the stage of pilot production, and its samples have been sent for testing to the Russian laboratories of Augusta. Samples of industrial batches of metamitron and imazamox have already been tested at the company's plants, they have received confirmation of their quality, and orders have already been placed for the supply of these active components. Metamitron is used by "August" in the production of the herbicide "Pilot", used to control weeds in beet crops and medicinal plants. Imazamox is present in the herbicides "Paradox", "Corsair Super", "Odyssey", which are designed to protect crops such as peas, soybeans, rapeseed and sunflower. The active substance bentazone of its own production is also expected at the production sites of the company - it is part of the preparations "Cohort", "Corsair", "Corsair Super" and helps to cope with weeds in crops of grain and legumes.
In addition, it is worth noting that a new tebuconazole production line with a capacity twice as large as the first one, up to 2 tons per year, has been installed at the August-Hubei site and is being prepared for launch. The first line, where this active ingredient was previously produced, will be reoriented to the production of other active ingredients. Upon reaching the design capacity at the plant "Augusta" in China, it is planned to produce more than 30 types of active ingredients with a total volume of about 7,5 thousand tons of products per year.