Mexico Seed - Market Share Analysis, Industry Trends & Statistics, Growth Forecasts (2025 - 2030)

Mexico's seed market is evolving with a strong focus on both hybrid and open-pollinated varieties (OPV) seeds

• Mexico's seed market is evolving with a strong focus on both hybrid and open-pollinated varieties (OPV) seeds. Hybrid seeds dominated the Mexican seed market with 83.0% in 2022. The domination of hybrids is mainly attributed to their wider adaptable nature and resistance to a variety of diseases.
• The ban on transgenic hybrids or GM crops in Mexico by 2024 has negatively influenced the growth of transgenic hybrids in the country, especially GM Corn, which is mostly used in the cultivation of corn. It is expected to be replaced by sustainable and appropriate alternatives by 2024. Moreover, cotton production in the country is mainly dependent on transgenic herbicide-tolerant seeds, and the demand is anticipated to shift to non-transgenic cotton hybrid seeds during the forecast period.
• The OPV seeds accounted for about 17.0% of the market in 2022. The OPV seeds are mostly used in the cultivation of row crops such as wheat, millet, cereals, and pulses in the country. Cereals and grain seeds accounted for about 63.0% of the Mexican OPV seed market value in 2022. In vegetable seeds, OPV varieties are less common due to the large availability of high-yielding hybrids. Moreover, the vegetables are more prone to diseases compared to the row crops. Hence, most of the vegetable cultivation is under hybrid seeds.
• Wheat is a major crop cultivated under OPV varieties, and 95.2% of the commercial wheat seeds cultivated in the country were open-pollinated varieties in 2022. The wheat hybrid varieties are not popular due to challenges in the development of hybrids.​
• The ban on transgenic or GM seeds in the country by 2024 is the major factor that is anticipated to increase demand for non-transgenic hybrids and OPV varieties during the forecast period.

Mexico Seed Market Trends

Corn and pulses cultivation area will grow due to the favorable climatic conditions and reducing imports

• In Mexico, row crops are the major crop types cultivated largely due to the increasing demand for food, feed, and industrial raw materials. In 2022, they accounted for 94.1% of the total cultivable land in the country. The area showed a decline in 2019 due to adverse climatic conditions, and irregular rain patterns drove the decrease. However, the area increased by 1.3% between 2020 and 2022 to meet the rising demand.
• Mexico is one of the major grain producers in the world. Grains and cereals accounted for about 70.3% of the total area cultivated under row crops in 2022. Corn, wheat, sorghum, and other grains such as barley and oats are the major crops cultivated in the country.​ Among grains and cereals, corn is the major crop with the largest area, accounting for 53.2% of the row crops area in 2022. However, the area decreased by 5.2% during 2016-2022 due to climatic changes and unfavorable conditions for the plants to grow. However, the production was stable from 2016 to 2022.Sorghum and wheat accounted for 1.9 million hectares in 2022. However, the wheat area decreased by 23.7% between 2016 and 2022, mainly due to low prices for wheat, which has encouraged many growers to switch from wheat to corn cultivation.​
• Pulses are among the major crops cultivated in the country, accounting for 13.4% of the country's row crop area in 2022. The area under pulse crops was 1.7 million hectares in 2016, which increased to 1.8 million hectares in 2022. This is due to the increasing consumption demand, as consumers prefer protein-rich diets. However, Mexico imports basic grains from the United States to meet the growing demand for feed and food grains. Therefore, the area under grains is anticipated to increase during the forecast period.

Disease resistance and insect resistance are the popular traits in corn and sorghum seeds due to the significant impact of pests and diseases on crop productivity and agricultural sustainability in the country

• Corn and sorghum are the major dryland crops in the country, and they are the most hybridized crops in Mexico, with demand for several traits from farmers, which reduce the cost of inputs such as insecticides and pesticides.
• Corn is an important crop cultivated by growers because it is a high-profit crop. There is a high demand for traits such as good tolerance to foliar diseases, insect resistance, and outstanding grain quality. Fall armyworm is the major pest of corn in Mexico that affects the area planted under corn in the country. Hence, the demand for varieties that are resistant to insects and diseases is expected to increase during the forecast period. Moreover, there is an increase in the development of disease-resistant corn varieties due to the increasing demand for improving yield productivity. For instance, companies such as Bayer AG and Syngenta are providing the traits that help in the resistance to diseases such as early rots and leaf foliar diseases along with higher productivity.
• Sorghum is one of the major crops grown in Mexico due to its higher productivity under local ecological conditions. Aphids are a major insect variety affecting sorghum in this country. The sugarcane aphid is mainly observed feeding on grain sorghum in Northern Tamaulipas and severely damaging it. It resulted in a 30-100% yield loss during both the spring and fall growing seasons. Therefore, there is an increasing demand for varieties resistant to various aphids in sorghum. Moreover, the crop was affected by leaf sheath blight in 2020, which damaged it.
• Therefore, protecting the crop from diseases and high-quality crops are expected to help in the growth of the seed market by increasing the profit of the growers during the forecast period.

Mexico Seed Industry Overview

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