Latest Statistics NZ data reveals seed exports increased by 4.6% last year to a record $250 million.
The NZ Grain and Seed Trade Association (NZGSTA) reports this to be up 44% from the $173m of five years ago.
NZGSTA general manager Thomas Chin says while NZ exports more than 30 different seed types internationally, pasture seed and vegetable seed were the key export categories.
Ryegrass and clover seed provided $131m in sales.
Carrot, radish and beet vegetable seeds and other brassica seed contributed $114m, while cereal seeds earned a further $5m.
“Despite the covid-19 pandemic, NZ seed exports returned a fantastic result for the NZ economy which indicates the underlying importance of the sector to the country,” Chin said.
“During the lockdown period the seed trade was deemed an essential business and remained in operation to supply seed to both domestic and overseas markets.
“Importantly, the seed industry will remain a driving force in the Government’s post-covid economic recovery strategy.”
The key to fostering a healthy export pipeline is having access to the very best seed for multiplication and plant breeding, and research purposes.
“The Government’s imminent reform of the Plant Variety Rights Act will be critical to the sector’s future success and that of our farmers, growers and users of seed products and crops,” he said.
More than 80% of NZ’s seed production is in the Canterbury region, taking in almost 40,000 hectares of certified crop.
Key markets for NZ-produced seed include Continental Europe, Australia, the US, China and Japan, together accounting for 75% of the total exports.
While the 2021 harvest got off to a later start than usual, combines are now all-go across the country after the early-summer heatwave followed by heavy rain over the Christmas and New Year period had farmers playing a waiting game for the ideal harvesting window.
Merchants are now reporting a steady flow of early grains, following a couple of weeks of good weather.
Conditions look positive for harvest to continue unimpeded in the short-term, with most weather forecasters expecting the current highs to stay in place for the time being.
Grain prices remain supported, partly due to the higher milk price forecast for the current season, along with next season’s milk price forecasts starting to excite the industry.
How the increase in grass silage across the country this season will affect grain sales is not certain, but this is expected to be counteracted by the high milk price expectations, according to the NZX Grain and Feed Insight report.
Maize crops of both silage and grain are reportedly in good form with current estimates of yields still the same, but soil moistures are starting to worry growers in some parts of the North Island, with the expectation that some early-planted maize grain crops will be coming off in early March.
Across the Tasman, barley prices are expected to stay buoyant with January a busy month for barley tenders out of Australia, with buyers from the Middle East and North Africa contracting large purchases.
The increase in tenders for this time of year is because of the climbing price of local food prices, with many governments changing import and export taxes as levers to control domestic food costs during the covid-19 pandemic.
The increase in grain orders is expected to hold Australian barley prices up on the bumper harvest over the past year.
This will be giving some hope to Australian grain merchants after the political tension between Canberra and Beijing affected barley prices last year.
Further afield, the Grain and Feed Insight reports US grain gaining increased support from China during January, with both corn and protein in demand as the Chinese swine herd returns to its previous highs.
There are expectations that as the Chinese pork industry returns to normal, this level of grain exports out of the US will continue in the future.
US prices on all grains are expected to gain some support from South American crops being impacted by drier than normal conditions at planting, and now uncertainty at harvest.
The covid-19 pandemic is also making life more difficult for Argentinian and Brazilian farmers, with some expecting these problems to infringe on normal harvesting and exporting activities over the coming months.
