During Euroseeds 2023, held in Malta from 15-18 October, Dr Nomman Ahmed, Senior Director of Research and Consulting at Kynetec, spoke about global trends in the agricultural market using data and trends from around the world.
The top five crops—corn, wheat, soybeans, rice, and barley—still account for 90% of the world's value and 85% of the world's planted area. Despite the challenges faced by the agricultural sector, the global seed market grew by 5.1% year-on-year, although volume growth was marginal at 0.8% year-on-year.
The results of Kynetec's FarmTrak study of 25,000 farms across Europe showed an overall stable picture: seed behavior among farmers remained broadly unchanged.
European producers consistently choose spring and winter crops, with rising seed prices driven by wheat, barley, rapeseed and sunflower. Negative growth was noted for sugar beets and corn. For sugar beets, the decline in growth may be due to a reduction in EU approvals for some crop protection products, making cultivation more difficult and forcing farmers to choose safer crops for their harvest. Corn, in turn, is struggling due to the drought experienced in recent years.
Some figures for seeds in the European Union:
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Cereals account for about 10% of the total market value in Europe
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Market growth of 5.3% compared to the previous year
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Europe uses 12% of the world's seed volume, more than 7% of the world's sown area
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In 2022, 82% of seeds in most European countries were purchased treated, up from 70% in 2020.
The study revealed a trend – the larger the country's sown area, the lower the percentage of use of certified seeds. Despite this, Russia continues to dominate the value of wheat seed, four times higher than second-place Ukraine and about ten times higher than other European wheat-producing countries such as the UK, Poland and Romania.
In terms of dairy farming and energy supply, silage, biogas and maize acreage has declined overall, with producers in countries such as Spain, France and the UK moving away from maize after years of dry weather, which is a known challenge for this water-loving culture. In Eastern Europe, on the contrary, the demand for corn seeds for silage and biogas has increased.