Ladies and gentlemen, good day and welcome to the Rallis India Limited's Q4 and FY25 earnings call. As a reminder, all participant lines will be in the listen-only mode, and there will be an option for you to ask questions after the presentation concludes. Should you need assistance during the conference call, please signal an operator by pressing star then zero on your touch-tone phone. Please note that this conference is being recorded. I now hand the conference over to Mr. Suraj Digawalekar from CDR India. Thank you, and over to you, sir.
Thank you. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us on the Rallis India Limited Q4 and FY2025 earnings call. We have with us today Dr. Gyanendra Shukla, Managing Director and CEO, and Ms. Subhra Gourisaria, the Chief Financial Officer. Before we begin, I would like to mention that some of the statements made in today's discussion may be forward-looking in nature and may involve risk and uncertainty. A detailed statement in this regard is available in the results presentation. I now invite Dr. Shukla to begin the proceedings of the call. Thank you, and over to you, sir.
Thank you. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us today on our Q4 and full year fiscal year 2025 earnings calls. As mentioned, I have alongside with me Subhra CFO. Let me start by outlining the current industry landscape before turning to Rallis's specific developments. Domestically, Rabi's earnings for 2024-2025 concluded at 661 lakh hectares, which is up by 1.4% over last year, led by higher acreages in wheat, plus 2% rice about 5%, and pulses about 2%, while oilseed acreages declined by 1.7% to 97.5 lakh hectares. Summer crops going area as of April 4th reached 60 lakh hectares, a notable 13% increase year-on-year driven by strong gains in paddy, as paddies are up about 14.5%, and pulses about plus 20.7%. Companies had continued aggressive trade schemes in Q4 fiscal year 2025 to manage inventory, which in turn created pricing pressures.
Overall, the Indian agrochemical sector posted a 5% volume recovery in fiscal year 2025. These are all estimates primarily on the back of a favorable monsoon. Nonetheless, the industry continues to be plagued with high carry-forward inventories at lower price, tight seed supplies, shrinking cotton acres, and ongoing weather irregularities, including erratic rainfall and localized droughts. Indian agrochemical exports remain largely flat, growing just 1% through the April to January period. Though signs of pickup emerged in January 2025. Seed production, meanwhile, continued to face significant challenges for a second consecutive year, with volumes remaining under pressure amidst rising input costs despite selective improvement in some pockets. In summary, while expanded sowing areas, a favorable monsoon, and a steady reservoir level point to positive prospects, the sector remains challenged by pricing, inventory, and seed supply dynamics, along with persistent water-related uncertainties.
Coming back to Rallis, during Q4, our revenue was INR 430 crore, 1% degrowth, and PAT was minus INR 32 crore versus minus INR 21 crore as compared to last year. Moving to individual business-wise performance for the Q4 fiscal year 2025, crop care B2C business revenue was INR 222 crore against INR 226 crore in Q4 previous year, with growth impacted due to price pressures. Volume growth was positive at 3% despite weak agrochemical consumption in crops like chili, cumin, paddy, and pulses in Q4. India's agricultural exports have recovered during the later half of the year. Rallis export business also has seen the recovery with 6% growth in Q4 in fiscal year 2024, both in volume and price.
CSM business was impacted due to customer scheduling. However, long-term prospects are positive, with work on new relationships. We are confident of some of these turning into meaningful opportunities into future. Seed business revenue was INR 25 crore as against INR 26 crore in Q4 of previous year. Moving to individual business-wise performance for the full year, crop care B2C business revenue is INR 1,578 crore as against INR 1,517 crore in previous year. Volume growth was robust at 9%. Soil and plant health and herbicide businesses clocked 23% and 24% growth, respectively, in line with our growth strategy.
Overall, crop care revenue has grown by 1% due to challenges in export business, as spoken in the earlier communications. Our long-term efforts to expand the customer base and improve cost competitiveness across value chain continue. Seed business for fiscal year 2025 revenue was INR 418 crore as against INR 416 crore in previous year. The positive news is the business has delivered strong profit before tax of INR 18 crore. We will work on further improving the value dynamics of this business with cost kept under strong resilience.
As of now, the team is working on placing the inventory dynamically in the market, looking ahead to the upcoming Kharif season. Domestic sentiments remain positive. As of March 27, 2025, reservoir water levels stood at 16.5% higher than last year and 1% above the normal average, supporting a favorable outlook for sowing and crop growth. IMD forecast above rainfall for the 2025 season, while the climate anticipates a normal monsoon, both of which bode well for the Kharif crops. Monthly rainfall is expected at -4% in June, +2% in July, and +8% in August relative to historical average. Overall, while favorable climate condition and improved reservoir level point to robust crop prospects and record Kharif production, our new launches across segments have good potential. The new non-selective herbicide LAFA will address the portfolio gap in non-selective market.
There are a few more promising launches in insecticide segment during the season. We have received good trade response for seed and remain optimistic of the domestic business. Geopolitical developments may cause some disruption in the short-term export market. However, we believe India will remain an important manufacturing hub in the years to come. To conclude my remarks, I will now hand it over to Shubhra, our CFO, for a detailed analysis of the financials.
Thank you, Dr. Gyanendra. Good morning. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us today for a Q4 and FY25 earnings call. Let me walk you through our financial performance for the quarter, post which we can comment with Q&A session. Starting with the top line for the quarter, our revenue stood at INR 430 crore as against INR 436 crore for the previous year, same quarter. Crop care B2C business registered volume growth of 3% despite lower spreads and poor crop economics. PAT was impacted due to challenges in the export business, impacting revenue and overall margins. We have gained volumes in B2C segment during Q4.
Exports have also seen an uptick in both volume and price in Q4. For the full financial year, performance was impacted due to lower exports, with volumes under pressure, especially in acephate and pendimethalin. PAT was INR 125 crore versus INR 148 crore.
In the same period, previous year, it was impacted due to challenges in exports business. Crop care B2C business has grown by 4% in revenue. Moving on to the seeds business, over the past few years, our seeds business has seen a significant turnaround. This success can be attributed to strong execution across all functions, effective use of digital tools, a targeted marketing approach, and working on removing process inefficiencies. As a result, we have improved our focus accuracy, reduced sales return, fixed costs were kept flat, and we have exited some of the unproductive territories and products. We continue to strengthen our capabilities to build a high-performing, resilient organization. Our focus remains on optimizing overhead costs through portfolio rationalization and refresh, territory realignment, eliminating overlaps, and driving cost efficiency and simplification across the value chain. Recently, we introduced a streamlined organization structure to boost agility and cross-functional collaboration.
Looking ahead, we remain committed to enhancing our market position through superior product offerings, which address the evolving needs of farmers. Sustained investments in customer centricity, marketing, manufacturing, and digital transformation will be essential to building a sustainably different business. As of 31 March 2025, we are pleased to report a healthy cash and liquid funds balance of INR 439 crore, and we'll further work to improve capital efficiency. We're confident that our recent initiatives will help us achieve consistent, competitive, and profitable growth. That concludes the opening remarks. We can now commence the Q&A session.
Thank you very much. We will now begin the question and answer session. Anyone who wishes to ask a question may press star and one on the touch-tone telephone. If you wish to remove yourself from the question queue, you may press star and two. Participants are requested to please limit their questions to two per participant and use handsets while asking a question. Ladies and gentlemen, we will wait for a moment while the question queue assembles. The first question is from the line of Rohit Nagaraj from B&K Securities. Please go ahead.
Yeah, thanks for the opportunity. First question is, again, regarding your commentary on the inventory. You alluded that there is high carry-forward inventory in the domestic market. If you could just give us a flavor about how that is likely to shape up for the upcoming Kharif season, and a similar commentary if you have for the global markets as well. Thank you.
Let me start. You want to take questions first or one by one we take? One by one. Okay. Thanks, Rohit. See, carry-forward inventory, I would say at a global level, for the majority of the product, has come to the normal level, right? Whereas for India, yes, inventory is there, but I would say it is not at a level where you can say it's unmanageable, right? A lot of it might be in anticipation of the strong season people are expecting driven by the commodity prices and generally normal monsoon forecast.
All right. Second question is in terms of the quarter gone by. We have seen that the domestic market, there has been volume recovery. However, pricing has been subdued. On the contrary, exports, there is volume recovery as well as pricing has been favorable. Could you just tell us why there is a dichotomy in terms of pricing for domestic market and the international markets?
Yes, I think they're completely unrelated. When we say domestic market, if you see our volumes for the quarter four are more or less for crop protection flat. Now, there are two things happening. We have one product in the chili crop, which goes in quarter three and quarter four. There's another product which is a very good product, which goes to control rice plant hopper. In spite of planting, I think there was a lesser pressure of chili thrips. The product which we have, though it's a future generation product, but there are not many farmers who like the way it works. It's a slow-acting insect growth regulator, gives a longer duration control. I think our farmers are used to eye spray, and pests would fall down immediately from the leaf and fruits. I think we're working on it.
We are trying to see whether we can educate farmers better and can do some strong recovery in that category of product. If you take these two out, plus on the top of that, if you see quarter three and quarter four, I have been telling in the past also, look, we are working on fixing the herbicide category in quarter three and quarter four because that will bring more sustainability and, I would say, resilience to our H2 of the business.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Abhijit Akela from Kotak Securities. Please go ahead.
Yeah, good morning and thank you so much. First of all, would it be possible to just share the breakdown of the crop care revenues between domestic and exports? Please, in case you mentioned it earlier, I think I've missed it. Thank you.
Yeah, so I think there's also confusion on what we call international business as well as CSM business. I think the CSM business was soft, and there was some deferment of the order, which was scheduled beyond March. That's why the CSM business suffered. And Shubhra, do we have a split?
Yeah. Abhijit, I think the confusion that exports have grown at 6%. The number of 6% was the B2B number. CSM, as Dr. Shukla mentioned, there was deferment of some of the customer consignments, which is where there's a degrowth. In terms of the absolute numbers, the overall B2B business, B2B exports, total exports business is around INR 150 crore for this quarter.
Yeah, sorry, if it's possible to just also share the competitive number for last year's quarter, please.
Last year was around INR 165 crore.
Okay. The balance should be a domestic business, right? Just to clarify.
Yes, domestic.
Okay, got it. Got it. The other one I just had was on the discussion on the pricing pressure. Was this in specific products in the domestic market or slightly more broad-based? Also just trying to reconcile the fact that the domestic pricing is reported to be down 5% this quarter, year on year. Even in Q3, it was reported that it was down 4.5%. It does not seem like there has been a major deviation quarter on quarter. Just wanted to understand that a bit better.
I think, Abhijit, you will see that the margins have moved up. There is indeed, in some pockets of prices, the final realization is down. What we are talking about, 5% versus previous year, within which as well our soil and plant health has seen good price traction. I think domestic, in some market, because of competitor and because of the cost price, cost reduction, we had to pass on the cost drop to the consumer.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Ankur Periwal from Axis Capital. Please go ahead.
Yeah, hi, thanks for the opportunity. Two questions, one on crop care and second on seeds. First, crop care. H2 was reasonably good in terms of volumes, but H1 saw deterioration there. You just highlighted that probably there is some bit of competitive pricing pressure still continuing even in Q4. Any thoughts on how we should look at growth in crop care, both on volume as well as on revenue side?
Two things I think I have been highlighting. Herbicide is also in the heavy crop segments. Only if you see where we can on herbicide, which is the largest category now. We are weak on cotton herbicide. We are weak on soybean herbicide. We are weak on major herbicide. All across categories, we are weak. That portfolio, I mean, that is about 30-35% of the crop protection market. We are building on that. We were literally absent on non-selective herbicide market. That's where we have introduced our LAFA new product. It got introduced late in quarter four, but response so far is very, very positive. One growth strategy is really herbicide-led and plugging the portfolio gap. That should give some upside.
The second analysis we have done that, though we have a good presence in fungicide and insecticide, but there also there's some specific segments. Either we have a product which may not be meeting customers' expectations, or we have a specific gap. We are also trying to address some of those gaps. Just portfolio gap itself and getting team focused on key markets with a very focused, what you call, distribution retailer and village linkage, I think combination. A lot of our effort we are putting on sending our people back to talk to villages and talk to the farmers, I think should lead to significant changes in the way we look at domestic business.
Sure. Sir, just following up on that, from a full year growth perspective for, let's say, 2026 or even 2027, how should you look at the volume or the revenue growth?
Sorry, I couldn't hear.
Yeah, I'll repeat. I hope I'm audible now.
Yeah.
Yeah. I was saying just as a follow-up, how should one look at your volumetric or revenue growth for FY 2026 for the crop care business?
I mean, really speaking, I would like to grow both, right? That is how we have planned. All our actions are targeted towards growing both volume and price. Price sometimes is also a combination of product mix.
Fair enough. Just secondly, on the seed business, we had earlier highlighted inventory-led issues there. Any thoughts how one should look at the growth in this business?
Inventory story is very unique. I mean, unfortunately, what happens, seed gets produced on farm, and every year there's a new chapter gets added, new experiences. As far as cotton for north is concerned, I think we are decently placed. Even for south, also we are decently placed. For cotton, which actually will become our largest category of seed, I do not have any, I would say, significant inventory challenges. We are okay on the rice side, I mean, rice, but there's some delay in supplies because last year, almost all the big companies suffered inventory shortages. They said everybody has gone and trying to produce. As a result, drying capacity, so while field production is happening, commensurating drying capacity constant is there. We are trying to work around that. Rice, I would say, by and large, okay.
The challenge actually is in the maize business, corn, where a lot of, I would say, industry cumulatively has produced 150% of what is required. Now, all inventory has come out at the same time in the month of March and April as we speak. There's not enough capacity to process in the pack and send it to the market. I think here every company is trying to play catch-up game. Companies, those who have a carry-forward inventory, they have some advantage. We didn't have much carry-forward inventory, but I still believe we are going to be better than last year.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Avendus Spark Institutional Equities. Please go ahead.
Hello. Thanks for the opportunity. I hope I'm audible.
Yes, we can hear you. Thank you.
My first question is on the export business. Here, the pricing improvements that we have seen, give some color on three aspects. One, between the products that we have or are pending introduction, which of the ones is helping us, which has started seeing a bit of an improvement? That's one. Second, the recent tariff impact, how do we see this? Is this an opportunity set for us? Globally, do we see a bit of a help in terms of Chinese technical prices going up, and that should kind of help us going forward in the export business? This is the question.
I think the situation, as all of you must be thinking, I mean, actually a bit fluid at this point of time, but I would say whatever is happening, it is good for the long term because I guess this only will intensify supply chain diversification effort by the markets, those who are consuming product originating either out of China or India. For the long term, it is positive. Short term, there's a dynamic. I think the way we see today, it is slightly positive for SF8. It is neutral for metribuzin and pendimethalin we make. These are three majority contributors. Hexaconazole, actually, I would say it's neutral too at this point of time. Except SF8, I would say is neutral.
Got it, sir. Second question is on the domestic pricing. I think last couple of quarters profile was a kind of a YOY price impact that you explained. Do we see, given where inventory is and what the season outlook is in terms of rainfall, do we see, let's say, next six months, a similar kind of a YOY price drop? Or do you think we have to continue at this current level of pricing, or do we see further challenges that we have to take price down because of competition and lower raw material cost? What is your outlook on pricing? The decline is more or less done. We have just continued current levels, or do we see further decline?
Very difficult to say because I think right now, if you see, there's a bit of calmness, right? A lot will depend on how China would react because two views one can take. One is China, if they are producing, they already have factory, and they're already running the factory. They would like to ship the goods to the markets where they can ship. They can't sell it here or Americas, which is the largest market, and Latin America is, I mean, season is still a little far away. Would they try to dump in other markets at a lower price? We have heard some news, but we don't have any conclusive evidence to say it hasn't started happening. That is one worst-case scenario can play out. Now, if that happens, again, it will depend.
If the products and raw material we were importing, they will become cheaper, but they will become cheaper for everybody. That might lead to overall, what you call, reduction in prices because then there will be competition, excess supply. If that does not happen, I would say prices should only remain where they are and slightly start firming up.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Bhavya Gandhi from Dalal and Broacha. Go ahead.
Yeah, hi. Thanks for the opportunity. Is it possible to share the revenue contribution for soil and plant health and herbicide for the quarter and the full year?
We would be able to do it. I think soil and plant health is about.
220 crores.
220 crore, which was about INR 190 crore. It was about INR 190.
INR 180 crore. INR 180 crore. We've had a good 23% growth on that.
Soil and plant health?
Yeah. Soil and plant health, we have grown from INR 180 crore to INR 220 crore.
Okay. Sorry. Herbicide?
Herbicide just.
Just give me a minute. Herbicide has moved from around INR 250 crore to INR 300 crore.
250 crore-INR 300 crore.
I'm only talking about the domestic business.
Okay. Is it possible to provide some number on LAFA? How do you plan to scale this glufosinate portfolio?
I think this product has a high potential, slightly different from glyphosate and paraquat, which are the products it competes. Our ambition would be that, given our brand strength, can we make a kind of a million-liter kind of product?
Any early understanding or numbers on LAFA? I mean, what sort of sales number has it reached?
So far, response is encouraging.
Okay. Fair enough.
Selling it quarter four. So far, response is encouraging. We'll see how it plays out.
Sure. Sure. Thank you so much. That's it from my end.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Archit Joshi from Nuvama Institutional Equities. Please go ahead.
Hi. Good morning, sir. Thanks for the opportunity. Sir, can you share your views on two or three of our top exported products, acephate, pendimethalin, metribuzin, with regards to its global supply-demand situation, and how do we see volumes shaping up in the next year? Just a follow-up. Incrementally, the new product that we have launched, which is also for the international market, which is Metalaxyl-M, I believe is a new product. If you can share your thoughts with regards to how we think of scaling this up in the exports market. Thank you.
I mean, top three products, obviously, so SF8 is looking positive, right? Metribuzin and pendimethalin, I would say, are neutral. All of you should also know that metribuzin is now banned for sale in Europe, right? It is now primarily America's market, as well as it goes in domestic market and some of the ASEAN markets. Metalaxyl-M is a product which has multiple applications. It has applications domestically. It has applications abroad. It can be used also to make combination fungicides. I think this product is not a new product. It is an old product. The isomer we have launched is new. I think our position is decently competitive. We believe this product should add a significant resilience to our manufacturing business.
Sir, if you could speak of the supply-demand scenario a bit on these four products globally.
Supply, I think all of them are available, right? It's not that there's a shortage of any of these products. All of them are available. There's a demand. Metribuzin, obviously, Europe market is out. SF8 basically primarily grows in some of the Latin American countries and US. Those are fixed markets. Pendimethalin grows across the globe. Metalaxyl-M also has potential. Again, you have to understand it's a new product. A lot will also depend on our ability to secure registration in various other countries.
Sure, sir. Thank you. All the best.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Darshan Zaveri from Crown Capital.
You may call. Hello. Good afternoon, sir. I hope I'm audible. Hello.
I can hear you.
Yeah. Hi, sir. Sir, I just wanted to get kind of your idea in terms of a guidance for FY 2026 overall consolidated data in terms of revenue or margin because I think in the last two years, the margins have kind of stabilized, but revenues have also been in the same range. Just wanted to know how do we see FY 2026 going as well?
I couldn't actually hear well.
Hello. Hello. Is my voice better right now, sir?
Yeah, it's better now.
Yeah, yeah. I just wanted to ask in terms of FY 2026, how do we see our revenue and margins because the last two years have been around the similar range that we've been doing. I just wanted to get your thoughts on how do we see FY 2026 going as well.
All right. I think let's address this segment by segment. I believe seed will continue to improve from where we are. Our soil and plant health business will also continue to improve. We are adding new portfolio in herbicide. That should improve. Overall, export is the only business, I would say, and some of the CSM thing because things become very dynamic. 75% of the business, which is domestic, I think we are covering all the bases very well now.
Okay. Okay. Maybe can we go at around 10% or any kind of qualitative guidance you'd like to give in terms of revenue growth that we are internally targeting? It can be a range also, anything that we are looking at, sir.
I mean, one of the challenges is, I mean, crop area remains same, right? Market grows with a combination of volume and price. The only way we grow is price and selling more and getting market share. I think our effort is to grow faster than industry average of 5-7%, depending on the product and category. Because we are adding some of the new segments, I think that's where there should be a significant traction coming to us.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Arjun from Kotak Mahindra Asset Management. Please go ahead.
Thank you for taking my question. The first question is regarding the CAPEX. In terms of FY 2025, we had initially thought we'd spend between INR 100 crore and INR 160 crore. Effectively, if one looks at our cash flow statement, we seem to have spent lower. Any key projects that have been spilled over to FY 2026, and what is the outlook for capital expenditure in FY 2026?
So, One is what you call sustenance CAPEX, which is regular maintenance, repair of parts and machinery. All of that continue. Besides that, there are two areas where we intend to invest money. One is solar projects, solar we were planning to do in our CJET site in Dahej. The other one is we'll continue to actually increase our spending in R&D capability.
What would our outlook be for CAPEX in FY 2026?
Outlook in 2026? I don't think we have.
We don't have any major greenfield or brownfield investments planned, Arjun. A large part of it will be what Dr. Shukla just mentioned on solar, power, and R&D, and sustenance CAPEX.
That would be in the region of generally INR 25 crore-INR 50 crore?
No, no. It would be around INR 100 crore, INR 75-100 crore.
Okay. Sure. The second question I had was regarding the MPP. Where are we in terms of getting a new business for the same, scaling up new projects, molecules, etc.? Could you comment on the pipeline, and how do we look at potential profitability from this?
I think MPP project is a long-term investment. Frankly speaking, if you see, at the same time, last year, we were having a conversation and was working, having a conversation now. Market hasn't changed significantly, dramatically. In fact, it has become further complicated with the tariff conversation going on. Having said that, we have started multiple new conversations because we had to reset the mathematics. And assumptions we had agreed when we made the initial investment. A lot of new conversations and new relationships and new ideas are being explored. I'm not in the position at this point of time to give you specifics.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Siddharth Gadegar from Equirus. Please go ahead.
Hi, sir. The new Metalaxyl-M product that we have, Metalaxyl-M product that we have launched for the domestic and the international market, can you share some color in terms of registrations? Where all have you received in the international market?
I think let me check.
We've received in some markets. I think firstly, we'll start with domestic business. We'll then prioritize all the frontier markets, and then we will go progressively to EU and other markets.
Okay. Secondly, in terms of our export business, can you give a mix between formulations and technicals?
Primarily just technicals.
Yeah. We would have done around 15%-20% in formulation this year.
Okay. Thank you.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Rajith Dalai from Antique Stock Broking. Please go ahead.
Hello. Hi. Thanks for the opportunity. I just wanted to understand the tariff thing. I think we are procured 50% or 60% kind of our RM from China, and we do have export to US. How that is going to impact? Is it can we shift our supply chain to domestic market, the product that we are exporting to US, and how it is going to happen?
I mean, at this point of time, we haven't seen any significant surge in raw material import prices. There are some minor adjustments. For example, a few products might have become a dollar and a half expensive. We haven't seen any significant surge in raw material prices. There have been a few products where availability has been a challenge, but they're not part of our portfolio. I think this is something very, very difficult to explain. If I look at the global scenario, this all is happening where North America season had already started. My feeling is all the China supplies which are directed towards North America, they were already done before all this conversation started. Now, India, also because season starts in April, people start tying up for the contract early enough to supply on time for the Kharif season.
I think it's happening at a time where there'll be a lag effect, and hopefully, till then, some consensus will be reached.
Understood. We can see some impact maybe in the Q2.
Towards the later part of the Q2, which is more directed towards supplies to Rabi crops.
Understood. In terms of other supply chain, right? If China is not exporting to U.S. markets, then the technicals or the generic products will flow to the Indian market or maybe other Asian markets. How that is, how that can impact our international portfolio because we are mostly into the generic business in the international portfolio.
Right. I mean, not only us, the majority of the Indian companies are in generic business only. None of them are discovery companies. I think the way we should see it is that if there's going to be a pressure on China, would they start dumping in the markets where they can sell? Because if they decide not to slow down their production and all, if they can't export to the U.S., my feeling is that the U.S. was largely covered before all of this started, right? Now, if that doesn't happen, what would China do? How would we react? I think there's a lot of guesswork going on at this point of time. It's very, very difficult to say how things will pan out. Worst-case scenario, China starts dumping at a cheaper price in India, but I guess is there a possibility?
Answer is yes, but we haven't seen significant signs of that at this point of time. I think we're in a bit of a fluid situation. Everybody is waiting and watching. So are we. I think as far as Kharif is concerned, our inventory till June, July, I think we're in a comfortable situation. We'll see how it moves further.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Abhijit Akella from Kotak Securities. Please go ahead.
Thank you so much for taking the follow-up. Just with regard to the comment you had made previously regarding some slightly positive impact on SF8 because of the U.S. tariffs and then neutral on the others, just trying to understand whether the reason for that is that SF8 might be subject to the tariffs, whereas the other products are exempt from the U.S. tariffs. Just sort of wanted to get your perspective on how the exemption situation stacks up for our key products.
You're right. I think metallic silicon and pendimethalin, sorry, pendimethalin and metribuzin are in the exempt category, and SF8 is not. I think that is one point, but we also have started selling a new formulation of SF8, which is SG formulation, and that has some traction in the Brazil, Latin American market.
Okay. Okay. I mean, in the event that China turns more aggressive in SF8 outside of the U.S., that could be a bit of a risk factor.
Yeah. I mean, at this point of time, I mean, we don't see it, but see, you have to understand, I don't think people are making money on SF8. Everybody is just trying to liquidate their inventory. That's why I keep saying this export thing at this point of time, unless you have a B2B business in those markets, it's very, very difficult and a bit fluid.
Got it, sir. If I may just also ask at a slightly broader industry perspective, agrochemical industry, looking beyond just your product portfolio, are most of the products flowing into the U.S. as imports, are most of those exempted under the new tariffs? That was my understanding, at least. I just wanted to hear your perspective.
Actually, lots of them are exempted.
Right. So.
I just want to understand, U.S. starts building their inventory right from October, November onward, right? Their consumption of, I mean, herbicide is the biggest segment there, 40%. Herbicide consumption takes place in the month of April and May. That means inventories were already there in their warehouses.
Right. Right. And we're not seeing any stoppage in Chinese exports to the U.S., right? Because of the same exemption, I mean, I guess since they are exempt, they should be able to continue to sell.
I mean, because of all these non-exempt, I mean, exempt categories anyway, I think things will continue.
It's too early to form a view on it.
Okay. Okay. Just one last thing, if I may. Just with regard to new product launches for fiscal 2026 or any partnerships that you might have on the annual, if you could please share any color on that.
I think there are some new products in seed category we are launching, particularly in cotton in South and Central. We will know by the end of this season how significant they could become. I hope they also become bigger, right? We would be launching product in soil and plant health, some specific crop-specific products. We have already launched non-selective herbicide, which actually goes around the year. We are launching an insecticide, which is the 9(3) which as we speak, we are actually in the process of launching. These are significant products, and that product, I think, cuts across crops and categories. The new insecticide we are launching.
Okay. Will that come in Kharif or later in the year?
No. As we speak, we are launching.
Okay. Okay. Okay. Great. Thank you so much, and wish you all the best.
Thank you.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Viraj from SIMPA. Please go ahead.
Sorry for the question. Just a few questions. First is for the export piece of the business part. Yeah.
Mr. Viraj, we are unable to hear you. You're sounding very muffled.
Just one more.
Yeah. Is it better now?
Yeah.
Yes. Please go ahead.
Yeah. Just three questions. I'll just see if it's questionable. First is the export piece of the business. Can you give some color of what kind of conversations you are having with your partners, existing or potential, given the kind of tariff situation we're just seeing for Chinese exports to the U.S.? That is one. Second is, I think you did say that you have to see what kind of strategy Chinese players are adopting in terms of dumping the excess capacity in other markets. Wouldn't registration be a barrier for those products to be dumped straight to Russia and India or Europe? If products are registered, then won't B2C players like us be a beneficial, given that you may probably get better terms in terms of raw material sourcing or payment terms?
Any color you can give on the conversations or the signs you're seeing in the market on these markets?
I think, look, as we are talking, I don't have a lot of clarity. I don't think a lot of clarity around. I think everybody's keeping cross, but business is moving, right? I don't think there's been a significant hue and cry in any market to say this product has become so expensive or not available because spraying season for Brazil is over, and America herbicides was not an issue, and insecticide fungicide will follow. I think agriculture is such a basic fundamental need. I do not see any radical changes expected from any government. As far as, I mean, China's strategy is concerned, I think China would continue to play an important role in my view. I mean, the kind of investment, the kind of factories they have put up, they're really world-class.
I'm sure at some point of time, there's going to be a negotiation amongst countries to sort that out. I do not see this as a long-term thing. What I do see from a long-term perspective is that every country which has been importing from China, and it did start a little bit after COVID, and there has been a kind of a price and volume war, I think would be looking at diversification of supply chain beyond China, right? As far as the U.S. guidelines are concerned, if you see, it says for U.S. to consider value addition, a reaction must take place, right? That means if China, you bring technical and formulate it and sell it, that is not considered as a value addition by U.S.
U.S. is saying if you bring, so if you're making technical, you should bring in a form which is different from technical. That means one reaction has to take place. It is very, very conversational. I think something positive will only emerge. That much I can tell you.
In terms of the Indian market for the B2C business, do you see an environment where the pricing pressure can continue, or you think it's more of a beneficial play for B2C brands like us?
I think it depends on the product you have, category you operate. By and large, I think companies have suffered a lot, right? I think everybody would like to see normalcy. I think given the forecast for the monsoon is normal, commodity prices by and large okay. There should be robust demand. I mean, unless something comes out which is not known to us.
Okay. Thank you very much.
I'm very clear for till the time clarity emerges from all the places, my focus is going to be really continue to try domestic because brands are more sustainable.
Got it. Wish you good luck.
Thank you.
Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, we'll take this as the last question for today. I now hand the conference over to the management for closing comments.
Thank you, everybody, for joining. All I can say, agrochemical export demand has seen recova ery. We are carefully calibrating our approach amid ongoing U.S. tariff and bilateral negotiations. We will try to improve both volume growth and margin, and net of environment. As I said, seed business prospect is positive, especially the demand for our new launch hybrids. North cotton hybrid continues to see good momentum with more than 1 million packets already sold. Domestic agrochemical demand is positive with the above-normal rainfall for the 2025 monsoon. Our endeavour is to improve market share across verticals and operate efficiently while building on the recently taken steps. We will try to maintain a better margin on the short-term or long-term actions on improving business sales in the right direction. I remain very positive about driving competitive, profitable, and sustainable growth to create value for all the stakeholders.
Thank you very much.
Thank you. On behalf of Rallis India Limited, that conclude this conference. Thank you for joining us, and you may now disconnect your line.