The pattern of Maize seed Industry: standing at the Crossroads of change

Omni-directional Perspective of Maize seed Market

Throughout the development of China's maize seed industry, it shows the following characteristics: (1) in terms of market scale, the corn seed market is growing rapidly, with a compound growth rate of 13.8% in 9 years; (2) in terms of supply and demand, the oversupply of corn seed industry has become the norm; (3) from the perspective of production layout, hybrid maize seed production bases are constantly concentrated to the northwest; (4) in terms of commercialization rate, the commercialization rate of China's corn seeds is close to 100%. (5) in terms of price, the price of hybrid maize seeds keeps rising.

Variety is the King-- exploring the "past Life and present Life" of Maize varieties

Since the reform and opening up, maize varieties have experienced six generations of replacement, and the growth of maize yield has also gone through two stages: (1) in the 1970s and 1990s, the per unit yield increased by more than 50%, but the planting area increased slightly, and the increase of total yield was mainly due to the increase of per unit yield. the breeding and popularization of new varieties have become the first factor to promote the increase of per unit yield. (2) from 2000 to now, the growth rate of per unit yield has decreased, the sown area has increased rapidly, and the sown area is dominant among the driving factors for the increase of total yield.

We believe that the current corn seed industry is at a crossroads of change, specifically as follows: (1) from the perspective of the main body of research and development, the integration of breeding, reproduction and promotion has become a trend, and the main body of research and development is gradually changing from scientific research institutes to enterprises. (2) from the perspective of R & D object, the technological renewal of maize varieties is relatively slow, the two-level differentiation of extension area is obvious, and the variety types are gradually getting rid of the situation of Zhengdan 958, Jundan 20 and Xianyu 335. At the present stage, the market is in urgent need of new high-quality seeds; (3) from the perspective of variety approval, varieties that have passed the national examination are relatively scarce in recent years, but the green approval channel has been implemented, and the seed industry approval is moving towards marketization.

Corn seed Enterprises-- the wrestling between varieties

At the macro level, drawing lessons from the development path of the international seed industry, we believe that the merger and reorganization of the industry will be the general trend.

On the one hand, the enterprise is based on the consideration of variety complementarity; on the other hand, the enterprise realizes the strategy of becoming bigger and stronger rapidly.

However, from the micro level of enterprises, the scarcity of new boutique varieties and the slow growth of first-line varieties have led to an obvious differentiation in the performance of domestic corn seed enterprises in recent years. The sea seed industry has maintained an absolute advantage in the quality and quantity of self-breeding varieties, and its performance is obviously better than that of other corn seed enterprises.

We believe that the maize seed industry is gradually moving towards a transitional period, and the future corn seed market will usher in two major changes: (1) the homeopathy of new varieties, the promotion area has a certain basis, and the second echelon varieties that have been tested by the market have absolute advantages. (2) according to the policy trend and foreign successful experience, corn may become the first field genetically modified crop to realize commercial cultivation in the future.