Seed production in EU - 2022
"Seed production in EU - 2022" : download the presentation
In 2022, the areas for field crop seed production within the European Union drop by 3 % to 2 025 630 ha. The decline in surfaces is observed in a large majority of EU countries. France stands out as the leading producer country with 361 744 ha (-3 %), ahead of Italy, whose areas stabilized at 203 211 ha, and Spain, which recorded an increase of 5 % to 191 315 Ha.
Surface areas are declining for a large majority of countries. Nevertheless, significant increases are observed in Denmark (+5 %), Croatia (+4 %), Sweden (+2 %), and Cyprus (+7 %). Greece and Slovenia, whose areas fell sharply in 2021, saw exceptional increases, respectively of 17 % for the first and 31 % for the second.
France remains the leading producer of corn seeds, oleaginous plants, fiber plants, and pulses. Spain becomes the leader in other cereals ahead of France and Italy. Denmark dominates the forage grasses market, Italy that of small-seeded legumes and beets, and the Netherlands that of seed potatoes. Germany regains the lead in protein crops ahead of France and Poland.
Straw cereals largely dominate the market for seeds produced within the EU with 944 180 ha, despite a drop of 3 %, a trend that affects all species except durum wheat, which rose by 11 % to 111 630 ha. Soft wheat fell by 3 % to 424 730 ha and barley by 5 % to 237 615 ha. Spain is becoming the leader in straw cereals with a total of 123 430 ha, ahead of France, which records a decline of 5 % to 120 266 ha, and Italy, whose areas have increased by 3 % to 109 480 ha. France remains the leading producer of soft wheat with 66 726 ha ahead of Romania (49 130 ha) and Germany (43 940 ha). Spain dominates the barley market with 44 367 ha despite an 11 % drop in surface area. Next, come Germany (31 953 ha; -1 %) and France (30 860 ha; -7 %). Durum wheat areas increased by 11 % to 111 630 ha. Increase benefiting a large majority of producing countries. Italy, the leading producer, totals 65 575 ha (+8 %), ahead of Spain, whose areas jumped 37 % to 19 240 ha. Come behind Greece (11 735 ha; +6 %) and France (7 810 ha; +2 %). Oat areas continue to decline and total 55 210 ha, a drop of 4.8 %. The trend affects a large majority of EU countries except for Spain, which remains the leader for this species with 9 830 ha (+31 %), ahead of Sweden (8 614 ha; -0.5 %) and Finland (7 370 ha; -8.5 %).
After reaching a record in 2022, maize areas fell by 5 % to 182 900 ha. The decline can be seen in almost all countries except for Italy (+6 %; 8 630 ha), Poland (+11 %; 4 753 ha), Spain (+49 %; 1 380 ha), and Greece (98 ha). French surface areas are down by 2.6 % total 86 080 ha, 47 % of total surface areas in the EU. Its main competitors, Romania, and Hungary, each recorded a drop of 9 % to 31 360 ha for the first and 27 892 ha for the second.
Oilseed plant areas increased by 7 % to 130 725 ha. This situation is mainly due to soybeans, which recorded a remarkable growth of 21 % to reach 52 544 ha. The increase is noticeable in almost all the producing countries, including Italy, the leader for this species, which has seen its surface areas increase by 10.5 % to 11 510 ha ahead of Romania (+42 %; 7 130 ha), Croatia (+10 %; 6 800 ha) and France (+20 %; 6 290 ha). Conversely, in sunflower, areas fell by 4 % to 38,307 ha, driven mainly by the top three producers, which posted significant declines. France, the leading producer country in the EU, lost 13.5 % to 14 660 ha. Spain and Romania fell respectively by 9 % to 9 330 ha and by 15 % to 5 000 ha. On the other hand, the trend is strongly upward for the other producing countries, in particular, Italy (+23 %; 2 870 ha), Portugal (+92 %; 2 830 ha), and Bulgaria, whose surface area has more than doubled to reach 1 040 ha. In rapeseed, areas decrease by 2,4 % at 21 810 ha. France, the leading producer, recorded a decline of 3,5 % to 10 220 ha ahead of Spain, which posted a rebound of 29,5 % to 4 940 ha. In Germany, surface areas fell by 25 % to 2 650 ha.
After increasing by 7% increase in 2021, forage areas decreased by 8 % to totalize 499 206 ha and represent 25 % of European seed production areas. The trend is downward for a large majority of countries except for Denmark which remains the leader in this market with 112 650 ha (+9 %), Spain (+11 %; 34 025 ha), Sweden (+1 %; 19 585 ha) and Greece (+4 %; 5 700 ha). Grasses represent 262 555 ha, a decline of 3 %. Denmark, the leading producer of these species, totals 105 733 ha (+9 %) ahead of Poland (31 660 ha; -13 %) and Germany (27 000 ha; -16.5 %). 51% of the area is occupied by ryegrass, 27 % by fescues, mainly red fescue. Areas under small-seeded legumes fell by 8 % to 143 353 ha. Italy represents 34 % of areas (49 026 ha; -9 %). It dominates the alfalfa market which represents 48 % of community areas with 69 285 ha (-11 %), ahead of red clover, down 10 % to 27 755 ha. The area of large-seeded legumes, mainly vetches, increases by 18 % to 31 670 ha. Common vetch is up 14 % to 22 180 ha. Spain dominates the large-seeded legume market with a total of 14 390 ha. Finally, crucifers fall by 29 % to 34 980 ha. Mustards, down 25,5 %, are in the majority with 24 260 ha ahead of fodder radish, also in sharp decline (-37 %), reaching 10 605 ha. Poland is the leader in the production of crucifer seeds, despite a significant drop of 23 % to 11 085 ha. The trend affects most partner countries.
In potato seeds, areas continue to follow a slightly downward trend (-1,4%) to total 106 272 ha. The Netherlands, the world leader, covers 41 283 ha (+1 %). France comes in second place with 23 000 ha (-3 %) ahead of Germany (17 926 ha; -3 %) and Poland, whose area has fallen by 14 % to 5 925 ha.
In protein crops, the areas remained relatively stable at 102 070 ha (-0,4 %) under the effect of notable declines affecting several European partners which were offset by significant increases in other countries. France is the most affected by the drop in surface areas. In 2022, it shows a decline of 14.6% to 14 070 ha, making Germany the leading producer of protein seeds with a total of 16 463 ha (+1%). Noteworthy increases in Spain (+12%; 9 554 ha), Denmark (+18%; 6 459 ha), and Sweden (+11%; 5 769 ha). Peas (fodder and protein crops), up 5.6%, represent 65 000 ha and broad beans total 25 585 ha, a decrease of 11%. Lupine fell by 6% to 11 440 ha.
In linen, surface areas jumped by 29% to total 42 165 ha. This development is driven by flax fiber, the areas of which total 36 824 ha, a leap of +41%. It should be remembered that the drop observed in 2021 was a consequence of the covid-19 pandemic which had not made it possible to export the production of flax fibers in 2020. As a result, in 2021, the surfaces fell significantly. France, the leader in this market, saw its areas jump by 46% to 31 460 ha, Belgium and the Netherlands posted an increase of 18,5% to 4 016 ha and 7% to 1 280 ha respectively. Conversely, oilseed flax areas, which had increased by 34% in 2021, fell by 19.5% to 5 340 ha. The main producing countries are particularly affected, in particular, France (-45%; 1 140 ha), the Czech Republic (-16%; 1 064 ha), Hungary (-19%; 429 ha), and Romania (-29%; 392 ha). In Germany, surface areas fell by 5,5% to 705 ha.
After increasing by 10% in 2021, sugar beet areas fell by 16% to 10 590 ha, mainly affecting Italy (-16%; 5 000 ha) and France (-17%; 4 910 ha), the two main producers of beet seed. In other countries, areas are smaller but growing strongly. The decrease is driven by sugar beets which represent 9 856 ha, a fall of -17.5%. Indeed, fodder beet areas continue to grow significantly to totalize 730 ha, a significant increase of 15.6%.
Summary note made by SEMAE (France)
