Looking at the global seed business

The global seed market grew at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 5.6 percent during the period 2005-2011, according to a recently released report looking at seed sales by region of the world.

“This growth was primarily supplemented by the remarkably rising population and inflating agricultural commodity prices, especially during the year 2007 and 2008. Moreover, an increasing adoption rate of genetically modified crops throughout the globe has supplemented the sales value of the seed market in the recent past. In addition, increasing production of biofuel across the major economies with an objective to generate an alternative for the scarcity of traditional fuel has inclined the demand for corn seeds and oil seeds,” the abstract from the “Global Seed Industry Outlook to 2016—Rapid Emergence of Genetically Modifield Seeds” claims.

A look at the non-detailed synopsis/abstract of the research report provides a couple nuggets of interesting facts.

In the recent past, the demand for commercial seeds was primarily generated in the emerging markets of Latin America such as Brazil, Eastern European countries, Asian countries such as India, China, Korea and several others Southeast Asian countries.

The report indicates that seed sales increases are occurring as growers realize the need to use technologically advanced seeds, rather than crop-saved seed. Specialized traits seed such as drought tolerant seed apparently are seen as worth the investment by more farmers. Biotech seeds are gaining acceptance when growers are allowed to see the result of using the new technology seed.

Asia-Pacific

“The Asia-Pacific seed market is the largest market [by region] in the world for seeds. The seed market in this part of the world is majorly unorganized with more than 1,500 seed producers including small and large firms both public and private who compete with each other for a relatively small share of the market,” the report explains.

Indications would be that unless these small seed producers make alliances with major global seed companies, they cannot provide the most advanced technology seed. China and India lead the way in seed sales increased volume, and Japan had a decline because of “several events including natural disasters.”

The announcement of the report from MarketResearch.com in Rockville, Md., does not provide exact percentages and dollar figures for any region of the country as the company is offering to sell the full report at a price of $1,100. MarketResearch.com gathers market intelligence reports from worldwide research publishers and then offers them online.

North America

The U.S. is the largest single nation market for seeds in the world, which should be no surprise to anyone in agriculture. “The contribution of the market has predominantly increased over the years due to an increased production of field crops such as corns, canola and several others,” the report notes. And the projections are that the seed market in the North American region will continue to grow.

Europe

In 2011, after two years of continuous decline, the market showcased a positive growth for a record sales value with stabilization in seed prices. In 2011, the sales of seeds in France lead the way for total sales in the European seed market. Germany was the second largest market for seeds in Europe followed in order by Italy, Spain and Turkey. Of note, the report says, the seed market in Europe is primarily held by Dupont-Pioneer.

Latin America

Brazil is the largest seed market individual country in the Latin American region and had an increase in 2011. But the seed market in Argentina was lower in 2011 than 2010. Four major companies held a majority of the seed sale, but “a handsome share was contributed by the other small domestic players.”

It should be noted that the report was written looking at the market segments of “grain seeds, vegetable seeds, oil seeds, horticulture seeds and fruit seeds.” The synopsis of the report did not provide information on the competitive landscape and profiles of the competitors, which are in the report. Although the report title refers to an outlook leading up to 2016 and the emergence of more genetically modified seed acceptance, MarketResearch.com is not providing any free details related to the future from the report’s insight.