Abstract:In 2020, the market size of the mainland seed industry reached 55.2 billion yuan, ranking second in the world, second only to the United States, with an average annual compound growth rate of 2.3% in the past five years. It is estimated that by 2025, the market size will reach 73.2 billion yuan, with an average annual compound growth rate of 5.8%, and the growth rate of the mainland market is significantly higher than that of other major agricultural regions in the world, and the growth potential is greater. Thanks to the high commercialization rate, the unit price of agricultural products and a wide range of planting areas, the market value of corn seeds has long ranked first in the market value of crop seeds in mainland China.
1. Definitions and Classification
Seed, propagules endemic to gymnosperms and angiosperms, formed by pollination and fertilization of ovules. The seed is generally composed of three parts: seed coat, embryo and endosperm, and some mature seeds of plants only have two parts: seed coat and embryo. The formation of seeds allows the young sporophyte ovules to be protected by the mother and to receive adequate nourishment like the fetus of a mammal. Seeds also have a lot of structures for dispersal or resistance to undesirable conditions, creating good conditions for the continuation of the plant race.
Second, industry policies
Although the development of the seed industry in the mainland started late, the growth rate was relatively fast. Since the reform and opening up, the seed industry has also changed from a planned economy to a market economy, and the mainland seed industry has gradually begun an era of industrialization and marketization. The 2020 Central Economic Work Conference and the 2021 Central Document No. 1 proposed to "fight the seed industry to turn over", in July 2021, the 20th meeting of the Central Committee for Comprehensively Deepening Reform deliberated and adopted the "Seed Industry Revitalization Action Plan", and in 2022 and 2023, the Central Document No. 1 successively proposed the comprehensive and in-depth implementation of the seed industry revitalization action, and from the construction of germplasm resource bank, biological breeding science and technology research, biological breeding industrial application, breeding intellectual property protection, The integration of breeding, breeding and promotion has put forward very specific implementation plans in many aspects, which fully reflects the great importance and strong support of the state for the biological breeding industry. The formulation of relevant laws and regulations and industrial policies has laid a solid foundation for the development of the seed industry, which is not only conducive to the effective supervision of the quality of seed products by the competent authorities of the industry, but also provides a reference basis for customers to judge the quality of products, and provides guidance and norms for the registration, production and operation of seed production enterprises. Seed industry is a national strategic and basic core industry. The state has made efforts to strengthen the supervision of seed production and operation, research on seed source technology, and the protection and utilization of germplasm resources, so as to promote the transformation and upgrading of the seed industry and promote the leapfrog development of agriculture in the mainland.
Third, the development process
The development of the mainland seed industry started late. Before the founding of the People's Republic of China, the mainland's seed industry was in a relatively primitive state, the foundation for the improvement and popularization of crop varieties was very weak, and the development of the seed industry was extremely slow. It was not until after the founding of the People's Republic of China that the seed industry market was initially established and developed. After nearly 40 years of development, the level of crop breeding, improved varieties and supply capacity of mainland China have been significantly improved. The seed industry formation enterprise cluster has begun to take shape.
Fourth, industry barriers
1. Technical barriers
The seed industry includes breeding, seed production, processing, sales and other links. The technical barriers to seed production, processing and sales in the seed industry are relatively low; In the breeding process, the technical barriers are very high. The birth of a new variety of high-quality plants has the typical characteristics of knowledge-intensive, technology-intensive, talent-intensive, and capital-intensive. At the same time, the world and the continent have implemented the patent protection mechanism to protect the intellectual property rights of breeding units or breeders, and after the successful research and development of new plant varieties, breeding units or breeders can obtain intellectual property rights (i.e., new plant variety rights) on new plant varieties, and charge authorized operating fees to authorized operating enterprises, which further raises the technical threshold of the industry.
2. Financial barriers
Breeding, seed production, processing and other links in the seed industry require large-scale capital investment, especially in the breeding process. The breeding cycle is often long, and the investment in R&D talents, germplasm, and resources is high. Because variety innovation is the core factor for seed enterprises to maintain competitiveness in the market, international seed giants and well-known seed enterprises in mainland China need to invest large or even huge sums of money in breeding and research and development every year.
3. Talent barriers
The cycle of seed breeding is often long, and it is not easy to build a technical research and development team with stable personnel, excellent technical ability and rich experience, which usually takes several years or even more than ten years. In addition, the seed industry is a combination of agriculture, biology, chemistry, industry and other fields, and the knowledge system requirements for breeding talents are also high.
4. Barriers to germplasm resources
Germplasm resources are the basis of breeding. The collection of original germplasm resources, the development and cultivation of high-quality germplasm resources, and the broadening of germplasm base are the basis of the whole breeding work. The quantity and quality of germplasm resources determine the success rate of breeding and the quality of new plant varieties. However, the development, search and cultivation of germplasm resources is a long and difficult process. This characteristic also determines the prominent position of germplasm resources in the seed industry, germplasm resources are the starting point of the life of all seed products of the enterprise, and its diversity and advantages determine the future quality and market vitality of the seed products of the enterprise.
5. Qualification barriers
Since 2001, the mainland has implemented a licensing system for the production and operation of major agricultural commodities. In 2022, the Ministry of Agriculture will revise the "Administrative Measures for Crop Seed Production and Operation Licenses" again, which puts forward specific requirements for the basic production and operation facilities, breeding institutions and testing networks, the number and area of breeding bases, scientific research investment, approved varieties, production scale, seed sales network, seed processing capacity, and staffing of seed enterprises, which greatly improves the access qualification requirements of the seed industry, and at the same time raises the threshold for the identification of seed enterprises with "integration of breeding, breeding and promotion". For small enterprises with weak R&D capabilities, it constitutes an industry entry barrier.
Fifth, the industrial chain
The mainland seed industry has built a complete industrial chain covering upstream breeding, midstream seed production and downstream sales. Among them, the breeding link, as the core of the entire industry, has a very high technical threshold. In this process, breeders develop new varieties with excellent traits based on their resistance to pests and diseases, their adaptability to the environment, and their specific planting needs. A variety of breeding methods are used, including traditional cross breeding, modern genetic engineering breeding, and cutting-edge cell engineering breeding. In the midstream seed production process, seed companies often choose to entrust a professional third party to carry out production. In the process of cooperation, the two parties will agree in detail on the key elements such as the area, quantity, quality standards and price of production to ensure the quality and yield of seeds. After the seeds are ripe, they are recycled. In the downstream sales process, seed companies work closely with distributors and retailers to deliver high-quality seeds to growers. This process not only realizes the market circulation of seeds, but also obtains benefits for enterprises, and more importantly, it ensures that the majority of growers can obtain seeds that meet their planting needs, so as to improve the efficiency of agricultural production.
Note: This article is transferred from the Zhiyan Industry Encyclopedia platform, if you need to get more industry information and customized services, you can enter the Zhiyan Consulting search to view.
Zhiyan Industry Encyclopedia is a production and research tool platform launched by Zhiyan Consulting, which is committed to providing you with a full range of encyclopedic industry information query services. Zhiyan Consulting practices the corporate mission of driving industrial development with information, improves and enriches enterprise methodology, relies on the industry encyclopedia platform to enhance the value of information, and continues to empower industry development and enterprise investment decision-making. As a one-stop systematic research tool for the seed industry, the seed industry encyclopedia comprehensively summarizes the knowledge and information of the seed industry, covering the definition, classification, policy, industrial chain, competition pattern, development trend of the seed industry, etc., and relies on information technology to establish an intelligent inter-chain industry knowledge graph, providing in-depth insight and comprehensive information for industry research practitioners and relevant investors.
Zhiyan Consulting takes "using information to drive industrial development and empower enterprise investment decision-making" as its brand concept. Provide professional industrial consulting services for enterprises, including high-quality industry research reports, special customization, monthly topics, feasibility study reports, business plans, industrial planning, etc. It also provides weekly/monthly/quarterly/annual reports and customized data such as regular reports, covering policy monitoring, corporate dynamics, industry data, product price changes, investment and financing overview, market opportunities and risk analysis, etc.