Asia, Europe and Middle East-Africa main drivers of growth
The global commercial seed market of high yielding and hybrid seeds increased by 1.57 per cent in nominal terms to reach $45.37 billion (Rs 3.2 lakh crore) in 2018, according to a report by a leading agricultural market research institute.
The seed market was driven by three important world regions namely Asia, Europe and Middle East-Africa, the report by The Kleffmann Group, said.
High-yielding varieties and hybrid seeds of crops like maize, cotton, rapeseed and rice were driving this growth at a global level, the report added.
The United States (US) was still the market leader in seeds in 2018. China jumped to second position whereas Brazil slipped to the third position from second place.
China increased its market value by five per cent in 2018. Argentina, another Latin American country, entered the top five, leaving Russia and Canada behind.
“While a large proportion of commercial growth came from Asia, Europe and Middle East- Africa, the North American seed market was almost flat,” Puran Mal, team manager at the Kleffmann Group, said.
“The Latin America region posted a loss of 6 per cent in value terms in 2018 as compared to 2017,” Mal said.
The Latin American market, consisting of countries like Argentina, Mexico and Colombia, performed positively in 2018, especially in maize.
Brazil, which has approximately 50 per cent of the region’s market value, faced losses of more than 15 per cent. This loss was due to the weakening of the Brazilian Real against the US dollar.
Within Europe, the commercial seed market increased by close to 3 per cent in value terms and Russia remained the leading seed market, despite an almost 6 per cent decrease.
The Ukrainian seed market increased significantly in value terms in 2018. It overtook Germany to become the third largest seed market in Europe. Overall, the main growth in Europe came from markets such as Ukraine, France, Germany and Romania.
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