No fewer than 1,400 delegates from more than 50 countries are set
to attend the 26th Asian Seed Congress, scheduled 25 – 29 November in the Malaysian
capital.
Organized jointly by the Asia and Pacific Seed Alliance (APSA) and the National Seed
Association Malaysia (NSAM), the region’s premier seed industry meeting will be held at
the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre (KLCC).
This year’s NOC is steered by NSAM in partnership with Malaysia’s Department of
Agriculture Malaysia (DoA), the Malaysian Agricultural Research and Development
Institute (MARDI) and Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM), and with support from Malaysia’s
Ministry of Agriculture and Agro-based Industry, Ministry of Tourism Malaysia and
Malaysia Convention and Exhibition Bureau.
The for-members and by-invitation-only event features business meetings,
entertainment, a trade exhibition, technical sessions and APSA’s Annual General
Meeting, which is scheduled to take place this year on the afternoon of November 28.
This is the second time Malaysia is hosting the event, with a previous Kuala Lumpur
edition held in 2006.
The ASC has also been held in Chiang Mai, Bangkok (four times), Manila (three times),
Pattaya, Brisbane, Shanghai, Macau, Kaohsiung, Goa, New Delhi, Bangalore,
Hyderabad, Chiba, Kobe, Jakarta, Bali, Seoul, Incheon and Ho Chi Minh City.
Delegates represent commercial and non-governmental seed-related organizations,
government agencies and research institutes involved in seed policy, research and
development.
The theme for ASC 2019 is “Plant Variety Protection as a foundation for seed sector
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development”.
The topic and importance of PVP and Intellectual Property Rights will resonate
throughout the week, in meetings and technical sessions organized by APSA’s
technical committees.
Other priorities on the Congress agenda include biodiversity, plant breeding innovation,
seed movement phytosanitary measures, emerging pests, production technologies and
market trends.
The 26th Asian Seed Congress, Kuala Lumpur, is proudly sponsored Anseme S.p.a.,
Acsen Hyveg Private Limited, Pilipinas Kaneko Seeds Co., Ltd, and Bombay Super Hybrid Seeds, Ltd.
Value of international seed trade on the rise
According to official trade figures analyzed by APSA, last year more than US$ 4.14 billion
worth of sowing seed was traded to or from countries in the APSA region, which spans
East, Central, West, South and Southeast Asia, in addition to Oceania and the South
Pacific.
APSA countries constituted a 13.19% share of reported global seed exports, and 19.83%
market share of the imports – worth US$11.67bn and US$13.12bn, respectively.
Hence APSA’s $4.1 billion sowing seed trade represents roughly 16.7% of the WTO’s
$24.8 billion dollar market.
It should be noted that this figure represents official trade figures for various types of
seed for forage, field, vegetable and ornamental crops, reflecting the value of all official
import and export consignments reported by World Trade Organization (WTO) countries,
and logged by the International Trade Commission.
However, these figures do not
include trade of seed potato, seeds for various types of spices, or oil seeds and
oleaginous fruits. (See end notes)
Of APSA’s sowing seed trade in 2018, US$2.61bn worth of the consignments were
imports, while US$1.53bn were exports, resulting in a region-wide deficit of over $1bn.
Globally and regionally, the international trade of sowing seeds grew in 2018, as the value of exports from APSA countries increased year-on-year by 4.8%, with imports up by
6%. This is compared to average growth from all WTO countries combined, up by 7.2%
and 3.7%, respectively.
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Top APSA Exporters
Surpassing China as the region’s top seed-supplying country in 2018 was India, which
exported some US$284.3 million worth of seed, representing 18.4% of APSA region seed
exports, and about 2.4% of those from all WTO countries.
Such exceptional growth was
especially reflected in consignments of maize seed (+69% to $69.1mn) and unhusked
paddy (+47% to $91.1mn).
In second, seeds exported from China also saw a year-on-year increase, increasing
8.3% to US$215.5mn to claim 1.85% global, and 14% APSA market share. Thailand was
third with US$195.7mn worth of exports (1.6% world, 12.7% APSA), followed by Israel
(US$156.5mn), New Zealand ($135.7), Japan (US$115.7mn) and Australia (US$99.6mn).
Top APSA Importers
China in 2018 was by far the region’s leading seed importer, with inbound seed
consignments worth no less than $477.9mn, which represents a 15% y-o-y increase from
2017. Second was ASC 2019 hosts, Malaysia, which logged $384.2 mn worth of inbound
seed consignments – a 22% jump from the previous year. This was followed by Japan
($235.3mn),
Pakistan (201.9mn), Turkey ($172mn), South Korea ($168mn) and India
($121.4mn).
APSA Growth Markets
Seed exports from APSA countries grew year-on-year by 4.6%, with several countries
logging substantial export growth in 2018 compare to 2017: the Philippines (55%), Pakistan (51%), India (45%), Turkey (36%), Jordan (32%), Georgia (28%) and Indonesia
(21%) logged the highest growth rates, if not counting Kyrgyzstan, where seed exports
grew y-o-y by an explosive 364%, considering that the overall value of exports from the
Central Asian nation is insignificant compared to most other APSA countries. (See Figure
1 for exact figures.)
Likewise, the value of seed imports to APSA countries rose in 2018 by 6% from 2017.
Leading growth in seed imports for APSA was the Philippines (69.5%), followed by Myanmar (47%), Malaysia (22%), Pakistan (20%), Hong Kong (18.8%) and Israel (18.7%).
APSA Trade Balance
Only seven of APSA’s most active countries/territories sustained a surplus in seed trade
last year. They were Thailand ($163.9mn), India ($162.8mn), Israel ($107.9mn), New
Zealand ($31.6mn), Singapore ($5.6mn), Hong Kong ($3.9mn) and Indonesia ($2.38mn).
Indeed, a majority of APSA countries continue to depend on inbound seed shipments for
both domestic cropping and re-export purposes.
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In conclusion, overall demand for sowing seed is growing – domestically, regionally and
globally. Increasing demand not only refers to quantities of seed, but especially the
quality of seed. This fact underlines an increasing necessity for strong linkages and
cooperation among all stakeholders at all levels in order to address and overcome a
plethora of challenges, including an increasingly volatile climate, the emergence and
spread of destructive pests, and uncertain economic and geopolitical factors that directly
or indirectly affect production and trade.
Such challenges – as well as strategies with which to overcome them – will be discussed
at this year’s Asian Seed Congress in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Notes about figures cited in this report:
Reported figures cover consignments for various types of vegetable, ornamental and
forage plants (traded using the HS code prefix of 1209…) as well as maize (100510),
rough paddy (100610) cotton (120721), soybean (120110) and two different types of
wheat – durum (100111) and meslin (100191).
Not counted in this figure are seed potato, seeds of tobacco, herbs, spices or oleaginous
fruits and plants, such as palm, melon or hemp. Also omitted from this report are figures
reported for the export of maize seed and rough paddy from Myanmar; rough paddy from
Pakistan; as well as soya bean seed imports to Pakistan and Malaysia, as the reported
data for these categories was extremely anomalous and could not be verified via
reciprocal mirror data from partner countries. For details about specific types and quantity
of seed traded by country, please contact Steven@apsaseed.org
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