Recently, Rainbow Agro released its 2022 annual report. During the reporting period, the company recorded an operating income of RMB14.46 billion, a year-on-year increase of 47.6%, with a net profit attributable to shareholders of listed companies of RMB1.413 billion, a year-on-year increase of 76.72%.

All business activities of the company have steadily progressed in line with its medium-term strategic plan and annual business work plan, which are based on the advantages of ″light structure and rapid response.″ The company has seized various market opportunities to reduce and control business risks, having achieved a satisfactory business performance, while the optimization and upgrading of its global marketing network, market development and business model have progressed more rapidly than expected.

The company’s operating performance continues to increase; 2022 revenue hits RMB14.460 billion

In recent years, Rainbow Agro’s business performance has consisted of rapid growth. From 2015 to 2022, the compound annual growth rate of the company’s sales reached 25.76%, and the compound annual growth rate of net profit attributable to the parent company reached 34.29%, as shown in Figure 1 below. In 2022, Rainbow Agro achieved an operating income of RMB14.46 billion, a year-on-year increase of 47.60%, with a net profit attributable to shareholders of the listed company totaling RMB1.41 billion, a year-on-year increase of 76.72%, and a net profit attributable to shareholders of the listed company after the deduction of non-recurring profits and losses of RMB1.41 billion, a year-on-year increase of 77.65%.

Rainbow Agro’s herbicides have been its leading products. In 2022, the company’s herbicide sales totaled RMB12.28 billion, a year-on-year increase of 53.68%, accounting for 84.95% of the company’s total operating income; its insecticide sales were RMB1 billion, a year-on-year increase of 16.07%, accounting for 6.94% of total operating income; and its fungicides sales were RMB800 million, a year-on-year increase of 18.87%, accounting for 5.51% of total operating income. As Rainbow Agro’s products are mainly exported, in 2022, its export sales were RMB1.416 billion, accounting for 97.94% of its total operating income, and a year-on-year increase of 49.25%; while its domestic sales were RMB300 million, accounting for 2.06% of total operating income and down 3.18% year-on-year.

Focusing on advanced manufacturing and global marketing network perfection

Based on its medium-term strategic plan to ″keep doing difficult but right things, moving forward towards a high value chain and creating a complete industrial chain,″ Rainbow Agro has continued its focus on advanced manufacturing backed by innovation, as well as to further improve its global marketing network.

1) Advanced manufacturing supported by innovation

In 2022, the overall R&D capacity of Rainbow Agro further increased with the addition of 42 technical staff members, who include five technical leaders. Up to the end of the reporting period, the company had 509 research personnel, accounting for 13.70% of its total number of employees; and its spending on R&D reached RMB335 million yuan, accounting for 2.32% of its operating income.

At the end of the reporting period, Rainbow Agro’s fully continuous green process for one technical product had entered production; its fully continuous green process for one technical product is in trial production; its fully continuous green process for two technical products have been completed and is ready for operation; the development of two technical products is expected to be completed in the second half of 2023, ready for production in 2024; and one technical product is expected to be developed in the second half of 2024, ready for production in 2025.

2) Global marketing network perfection

During a period of deepening market development in existing countries, Rainbow Agro has continued its market development in new regions, to accelerate the perfection of its global marketing network. Currently, its most recently market research covered Poland, Belarus, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Iraq, Iran, Oman, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Jordan, Burkina Faso, Senegal, Rwanda, Burundi, Namibia, Botswana, Mozambique and Algeria. The company’s newly established wholly-owned or joint ventures or representative offices are located in countries that include Russia, Kazakhstan, Rwanda, Angola, Botswana and Iraq. It has also established independent or collaborative work teams in Brazil, Argentina, Mexico, Ecuador, Peru, Dominica, Russia, Kazakhstan, Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand, Côte d'Ivoire, Nigeria, Rwanda, Angola and Iran, as well as initiated TOC channels and brand promotions in local markets. Rainbow Agro acquired the Spanish company, Sarabia, to accelerate its investment and business development in the European Union (EU) market.

With the rapid development of its global marketing network, Rainbow Agro is also speeding up its global registration deployment. At the end of 2022, Rainbow Agro owned more than 300 registrations in China and more than 4,900 overseas. In order to accelerate the registration process to facilitate access to key markets as early as possible, Rainbow Agro obtained 131 EU registrations through the acquisition of Sarabia. In 2022, it obtained a total of 137 new registrations for the first time in Serbia, Egypt, Mali, Côte d'Ivoire, Tanzania and Uzbekistan, and it initiated new registration processes in 16 countries, including Belarus, Iran, Iraq, Rwanda, Malawi, Botswana, Namibia, Togo, Benin, Azerbaijan, Chile and Japan. Meanwhile, Rainbow is continuing to register more products in countries where it already has registrations, to create rich and complete product portfolios that fully meet the needs of local market.