FMC Wins UK Approval for New Pethoxamid-Based Herbicide Koban in Oilseed Rape
03 October 2026, London: FMC Corporation has secured formal approval from the UK’s Chemicals Regulation Division (CRD, part of the Health and Safety Executive) for Koban, a new residual herbicide built around the active ingredient pethoxamid. The approval, reported October 1, 2026, covers use in oilseed rape in Great Britain, with cereal crops expected to follow as a future use.
Pethoxamid belongs to HRAC Group 15, the same mode-of-action class as flufenacet and metazachlor, two actives that have faced growing regulatory and resistance pressure in European arable systems in recent years. Koban is positioned by FMC as a residual partner product, offering activity against grassweeds and broadleaf weeds through soil-applied residual control rather than as a standalone knockdown herbicide. The company has framed it primarily as a tank-mix or sequence partner alongside other residual chemistry rather than a sole solution.
This is the third new herbicide active ingredient FMC has brought to the GB market in recent years. The company launched Fundatis, which combines bixlozone and beflubutamid, in 2025, and has reported promising early performance when pethoxamid is used alongside Fundatis in cereal weed control programmes. Geoffrey Bastard, FMC’s UK and Ireland marketing lead, said the launch reflects the company’s commitment to giving farmers new tools against difficult grassweed populations on farm.
Pethoxamid itself is not a brand-new molecule globally. It has existing regulatory history in Canada and has been reviewed by the US EPA and by EFSA in the EU, where it already has a peer-reviewed risk assessment on file. What is new here is its introduction into the GB market specifically, following the UK’s post-Brexit divergence from the EU’s pesticide approvals process, under which CRD now runs its own national assessment of active substances and products rather than automatically mirroring EU decisions.
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