Market Trends of asia-pacific maize seed Industry
Industrial applications, and the demand from animal feed and food processing industries are driving the maize cultivation
- Asia-Pacific is one of the major maize-producing regions globally, with a high demand in various processed food industries across its countries. In 2022, the region accounted for 67.6 million hectares of maize cultivation. The area under maize cultivation in the region observed an increase of 1.1% in 2022 compared to 2021. However, the acreage fluctuated during the historic period between 2017 and 2021. The fluctuation arose from China, India, and Indonesia, which are a few of the major maize-producing countries in the region.
- China occupied the major share of the area under maize cultivation, with 64.7% of the acreage in 2022. The favorable climatic conditions and the higher demand for maize as animal feed in the country have made it one of the major countries in the region. Moreover, the higher market prices for maize have driven its adoption by farmers in the country. Furthermore, India and Indonesia were the major countries after China concerning the area under maize cultivation, which accounted for 14.8% and 5.2% of the acreage in the region in 2022, respectively. The favorable market prices for maize from feed, food, and processing industries, such as ethanol plants, have driven the adoption of maize cultivation in these countries. Furthermore, the demand for ethanol in petrol blending is projected to surge from 173 crore liters in 2019-20 to 1,016 crore liters in 2025-26. Consequently, the overall demand for ethanol is set to rise from 684 crore liters in 2019-20 to 1,500 crore liters in 2025-26, with 740 crore liters being grain-based ethanol.
- Therefore, the increasing demand for corn for feed, human food, and industrial purposes is projected to drive the area under maize cultivation in the region significantly during the forecast period.
Drought tolerance, disease resistance, and wider adaptability are the major traits farmers seek in the region
- Corn is an important crop cultivated by growers because it is a high-profit crop. Growers have a high preference for traits such as weed control, improved grain quality, early maturity, lodging tolerance, disease resistance, and adaptability to different regions and climate conditions. For instance, companies such as Bayer AG, BASF SE, and Syngenta provide traits that help increase productivity and resistance to diseases such as early rots and leaf diseases. These seed varieties are witnessing high demand because no other sprays or alternatives exist to resist the diseases. Furthermore, other major traits, such as color, height, and the number of grains per cob, are popular for high returns for growers.
- Globally, China is a major producer of corn. The demand for drought tolerance traits is increasing because there was low water availability due to drought in 2022. Therefore, the demand for drought-tolerant traits is expected to increase to meet the demand of drought-affected countries during the forecast period. Moreover, the growers are also adopting wider adaptability, abiotic stress tolerance, and insect-resistant traits due to changes in soil conditions and demand for protecting corn crops from insects such as pink stem borer, shoot fly, and spotted stem borer. For instance, India is one of the significant producers of corn in Asia-Pacific, where the crop is affected by pests and abiotic stress and grown in different agroecological zones.
- Factors such as low water due to climatic conditions, pests, and diseases affecting the growth of corn are expected to help in the introduction of new seed varieties and the growth of the market during the forecast period.
OTHER KEY INDUSTRY TRENDS COVERED IN THE REPORT
- Hybrid breeding is the major breeding technique adopted in maize as it is a cross-pollinated crop