It has been an impressive growth curve and a strong commitment to the future in Australia and to providing important support for the company’s product portfolio.
Amongst rural retailers, there has also been great recognition of Rainbow’s global growth and its capacity to supply quality products to a range of customers, offering them choice and helping to grow their businesses.
Rainbow is the largest agrichemical exporter out of China and has huge manufacturing capacity and financial strength to support the development of the Australian business.
The company has more than 330 APVMA registrations in Australia and is continuing to provide solutions for key market requirements.
It added seven new registrations in just the past year across herbicide, fungicide and insecticide portfolios and is anticipating another 14 this year, including four products for which Rainbow will be the first off-patent supplier to the Australian market.
The company plans to launch 30 new products in Australia from 2027-2030, many of which it will launch in the first year they come off-patent.
Product development manager Geoff Cox says Rainbow’s investment in Australian product development has doubled every year over the past three years to now reach more than $1.5 million spent locally.
“As part of the expanding global reach of Rainbow, funding does need to increase and it will grow again next year and into the future. You need to invest a lot to develop brand new active ingredients,” Geoff says.
This season, more than 150 trials will be conducted across the cropping and non-crop sectors in Australia, supporting an expanding product range for Rainbow Agroscience and Rainbow Enviro that will offer greater choice for customers.
The company engages a range of leading research organisations to conduct the field trials in conjunction with its product development team, including Eurofins Kalyx and AgXtra through to smaller independent businesses such as Jubilee and Saturn AG.
Trials will once again be located across the country this season, with a strong focus on fungicides and insecticides to help grow these product portfolios, as well as on assessing potential product replacements for paraquat herbicide, which continues to be under review.
Australia and New Zealand general manager Darrin Hines says although Rainbow had strong global brand equity, the brand has only been in the Australian market for 15 months and local industry acceptance has been fantastic.
“We couldn’t be happier, and are very appreciative, with how quickly Rainbow has been accepted by our customers and become part of the local industry,” Darrin says.
He says the significant financial investment and commitment to local product development to bring important products to the local market, as well as additional investment into the company’s warehouse network, customer service and resourcing for its commercial team, was setting the platform for an exciting growth period ahead for the Rainbow business.