SEEDS STUDY

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Concentration of market power
in the EU seed market
5
percentage of product sales (with the exception of small biotechnology firms). Typically, the large firms
are multinational operations with global R&D and marketing networks. 7”
The U.S. Department of Justice announced in August 2009 that it would investigate alleged
anticompetitive conduct in the seed industry largely because a few dominant companies control too
much of the seed supply. The case was dropped at the end of 2012 without any explanation. The report
“Out of Hand” states: “USDA figures show that the most substantial price increases occurred parallel
with the rise of GM crop plantings, with the most significant price increases occurring within the last
few years. ... corn [maize] seed prices in 2009 were more than 30% higher, and soybean seed nearly
25% higher, than 2008 prices. These mark the steepest year-to-year increases to date. Monsanto’s
dramatic price increases are unmatched.”
In the EU the prices of seed and planting stock have also increased rapidly recent years: they rose
by an average of 30.2% between 2000 and 2008 for the EU (based on Eurostat figures)8. As stated in
a European Parliament briefing of 2011: “The increase in seed prices differed widely among Member
States. Faced with these figures and with price increases for other inputs, some farmers are looking for
ways to reduce their seed costs.”
A report on farm inputs voted by the European Parliament in 2011 reached similar conclusions: “Total
input costs for EU farmers climbed on average by almost 40% between 2000 and 2010: ... the increase
in input costs within that decade reached ... almost 80% for synthetic fertilisers and soil improvers, ...
almost 30% for seeds and planting stock and nearly 13% for plant protection products.” Considering that
seeds are becoming an input increasingly bred for dependence on other inputs, this is highly significant.9
This study shows that the EU market – in reality a number of smaller Member State (MS) markets
- is undergoing a concentration process, with some MS becoming much more concentrated than
others. We use examples to illustrate this, by describing snapshots in two MS markets in different
stages along this process, France and Poland. Using the seed lobby’s own information, we can also
see that the demarcation of an EU market as such is slightly illusionary, as dominant global seed
companies, in close collaboration with dominant global agro-chemical companies, tailor seeds to
be dependent on those agro-chemical inputs. It is without doubt a globalised market, where arms of
global corporations use their worldwide networks to obtain, breed, multiply and distribute their seed:
for example, source material may come from Italy, breeding and testing with pesticides may happen
in Germany, multiplication may occur in Mexico, packaging in USA, and finally retail in the EU. Given
this, we must not lose sight of the global picture which provides cause for concern, as the biggest 10
companies own up to 75% of the worldwide market share.
7. Keith Fuglie, Paul Heisey, John King, Kelly Day-Rubenstein, David Schimmelpfennig, and Sun Ling Wang, 2011, Research Investments and Market Structure in the
Food Processing, Agricultural Input, and Biofuel Industries Worldwide: Executive Summary, Economic Information Bulletin No. (EIB-90) pg. 34, December 2011,
8. Seed use by farmers in the European Union, European Parliament Library Briefing 28/10/2011
9. Report of the European Parliament on the farm input supply chain: structure and implications 2011/2114(INI), rapporteur José Bové