China’s seed industry is at least a generation behind the Western giants in terms of technology, with a government-backed agency calling for enhanced financial, infrastructural and talent support for domestic suppliers in a rare but candid assessment of the sector.
The China Seed Association, backed the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, last week also encouraged firms to expand international collaboration efforts.
“Overseas seed giants have entered the ‘Industry 4.0 Era’ utilising big data, artificial intelligence and gene editing, while Chinese seed suppliers are still in the transition stage to the ‘Industry 3.0 Era’ primarily focusing on molecular breeding,” the report said.
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The call came amid Beijing’s growing push for self-reliance in the seed industry, which is billed as the agriculture version of semiconductors, but is also seen as a weak link in China’s overall food security drive.
As part of efforts to address the over-reliance on seed imports from major exporters like the United States, China’s Seed Law came into effect in March 2022, aimed at keeping germplasm resources “independent and controllable”.
China, though, still lags behind major seed giants such as the United States and Germany, which have formed complete industry chains spanning from seed cultivation to sales, and also drive the development of related industries such as biotechnology and food.
“Chinese seed companies are more focused on a single crop or related technology and services, with limited collaboration across upstream and downstream industries,” the report added.
Although China already has more than 7,600 seed companies, their presence remains relatively low both domestically and globally.
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According to the report, out of China’s 360 leading seed companies, only 11 have established breeding bases or research and development (R&D) centres abroad, totalling no more than 30 centres.
China’s top 10 seed enterprises account for only 13.8 per cent of the domestic market share, which differs from global giants like Germany’s Bayer and the Corteva in the US, which control 67 per cent of the global market combined.
The association said China needs to expedite the resolution of issues in scientific innovation and overseas collaboration if it wants to achieve its goals of technological independence and control over seed sources within 10 years.
China’s seed companies are facing the dual dilemma of a lack of seeds and talent, as the country’s limited resources mostly reside in research institutes, while government incentives are tilted towards institutes which help to attract more breeding talent.
It also has a relatively inefficient seed import and export approval process due to the lack of distinction between commercial usage and breeding research purposes, which affects international research and sharing of China’s germplasm resources.
The association said China needs to increase its support for seed enterprises in terms of financing, equipment and talent, and to support the enhancement of foreign cooperation to introduce high-quality overseas germplasm resources and set up R&D bases overseas.
“We should also consider loosening restrictions on foreign investment in maize seed, enticing multinational seed companies to invest more in breeding technology and variety resources in the Chinese market, and adopting foreign patented technology and new varieties,” the association said.
Up to last year, the US held 80 per cent of the world’s core breeding patents, with China holding just 3.5 per, according to a study released by the Chinese Academy of Sciences in June.
China’s bio-seed companies achieved sales revenues of 77.7 billion yuan (US$11 billion) up to the end of 2022, which is roughly the same amount as the US$10.3 billion by Germany’s Bayer alone during the same period, according to the latest data cited by the study.
According to the European Commission in May, over the next five to 10 years, there would be more than 150 gene-editing products introduced globally, with Chinese products accounting for less than 16 per cent of the products launched in the US.
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