Global seed treatment market to grow at CAGR of 10.8% from 2014 to 2020

According to the report “Seed Treatment Market - Global Trends & Forecast to 2020”, the seed treatment market was valued at $ 4.82 billion in 2014, and is projected to grow at a CAGR of 10.8% by 2020. In 2014, the global seed treatment market was led by North America, where the U.S. is a major producer. Latin America is the second-largest region with regard to the application of seed treatment, and is projected to grow at a CAGR of 11.1% by 2020. Insecticides held the largest market size in terms of value under crop protection chemicals and are projected to grow at the highest CAGR during the forecast period.

The market for seed treatment has a significant impact on agricultural production. Seed treatment methods are categorized by function, as crop protection chemicals and seed enhancement, which are further categorized as insecticides, fungicides, inoculants, and physical seed treatments. The seed treatment market is also segmented on the basis of its applications in various crop types, such as corn, wheat, soybean, rice, cotton, canola, and others that include fruits & vegetables, turf, ornamental & forage crop, and other cereals & oilseed crops.

Seed treatment is a term that describes both products and processes. Processes range from hot water treatment to priming. In all cases, the basis of application techniques such as seed coating and pelleting is to deliver the product to the seed at the correct dose and as uniformly as possible from seed-to-seed. Seed treatments can be used as a primary tool to conduct successful integrated pest management program for sustainable agriculture since they target the pests and diseases with smaller amounts of active ingredients per hectare and are not introduced into the atmosphere. In many cases, without the use of seed treatment, growers would have great difficulty in controlling certain early season seed-borne and soil-borne pests and diseases that would have to resort to more expensive and less environment-friendly methods.

The driving factors for this market are the increasing global population and food requirements, rise in cost of fertilizers & pesticides, and easier residue management. Seed treatment gained popularity due to various factors, including increasing cost of farm-level seed treatment and conventional agrochemical application, increased yield of high-quality agricultural produce, increasing rates of crop rotation  and raising awareness among farmers about the benefits of using high-end agro products.

The leading players in this market include Syngenta AG (Switzerland), Bayer CropScience AG (Germany), BASF SE (Germany), Nufarm Ltd (Australia), Sumitomo Chemical Co. Ltd (Japan), and Platform Specialty Products Ltd. (U.S.).