Limagrain grabs one-third of OSR seed market

Seed breeder Limagrain took 35% of the certified rapeseed market this season after claiming the top spot for both conventional and hybrid varieties.

Its variety Acacia had a 21.6% share of the conventional seed market, while Aurelia held 16.5% of the total hybrid seed market, according to figures from United Oilseeds.

Hybrids now control some two-thirds of the total rapeseed market as breeders’ ability to introduce new traits into them more rapidly has increased their attractiveness to farmers, despite them not being able to save seed from crops.

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Overall, rapeseed drillings of certified seed in autumn 2020 were down 42.78%, from 410,776ha in 2019 to 235,031ha in 2020.

United Oilseeds predicts that 2021’s total harvested area, including the area planted to farm-saved seed, will slide 13% on the year to just 310,000ha.

This compares with 360,000ha cut at harvest 2020, which was from a planted area of 531,000ha.

This will result in a 2021 production figure of about 1.09m tonnes, which will mean the UK will have to import about 800,000t to meet demand.