SEEDS STUDY

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Concentration of market power
in the EU seed market
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The myth of 7000 European seed companies in the EU
The European seed lobby group, the European Seed Association, repeatedly states that the EU seed sector is highly
diversified because of the apparently large number of enterprises in the sector - 7000 - and because of the large
proportion of micro enterprises among them, more than 70%47. The same claims are repeated by organisations
and individuals lobbied by them, in the absence of alternative and independently verifiable statistics: for example
during a recent debate on the review of the seed marketing law in the European Parliament in November 2013,
representatives from both the European Parliament and the Commission referred to the same figures.
However, as mentioned above, the seed sector consists of many different sub-sectors, characterised by strong links
between enterprises with different tasks along the seed chain. So it is often the case that a big enterprise, breeding a
seed variety and selling the seeds under its own brand name, subcontracts smaller enterprises in order to delegate or
externalise tasks. Considering the segmentation of the seed sector, the diversity of crop varieties and the differences
between climatic and agricultural conditions throughout 28 EU Member States, 7000 companies does not appear to
be a huge number, especially as that number includes not only breeders48 but also maintainers, multipliers and traders.
Therefore it does not seem credible to use this number to counter the claim that very few companies dominate the seed
chain. Indeed, many of the 7000 companies seem to work for a small number of breeders.
This figure of 7000 companies rather provides an explanation of how the sector
works, but does not illustrate the diversity of the sector itself. Therefore, given the
breakdown into roles and functions of the 7000 companies and their relationships of
dependency and ownership, the figure cannot be used as an indicator of the health
of the sector.
Without more information available on the role of those 7000 companies, it is not possible to find out exactly how
many of them are operational, in which section of the seed sector they work, and who orients and controls their work.
47.
48. As defined by the OECD “the maintainer of a variety is a person or an organisation responsible for maintaining the variety and ensuring that it remains
true to type throughout its full life-span and in the case of hybrid varieties that the formula for hybridisation is followed. Maintenance may be shared.”
49. The EU Seed and Plant Reproductive Material (PRM) market in perspective: a focus on companies and market shares, Directorate-general for internal
policies of the European Parliament, November 2013, Brussels, pg. 2.
poland , romania around 2000
around 800
around 600
between 120 and 350
less than 60
hungary
united kingdom
france , italy , germany , netherlands , slovakia
other member states
member states number of seed companies
,basedondatafromeuropeancommission
impactassessmentswd(2013)162 ,2013
Table 3: Breakdown of seed companies in EU Member States 49