CUCUMBER SEEDS MARKET ANALYSIS

Cucumber Seeds Market – Insights

Cucumber is a native Indian vegetable type, which consists of 90 to 95% of water. Cucumber is considered as a healthy food type, owing to various nutritional benefits it offers such as it is rich in antioxidants. Cucumbers are consumed in the raw form or they are cooked and also used to make pickles. Therefore, increasing demand for cucumbers, owing to nutritional benefits is expected to boost demand for cucumber seeds over the forecast period.

Increasing demand for cucumber due to its health benefits driving the global cucumber seeds market. Health benefits offered by cucumber such as cholesterol lowering and anti-oxidant effects are in turn expected to fuel demand for cucumbers across the globe. Cucumber has high water content and lower calorie content, which makes it a healthy food option and results in increasing cucumber consumption in salads and smoothies, in order to reduce obesity. This is expected to propel demand for cucumber seeds.

However, a few side effects shown by cucumber seed consumption is expected to restrain growth of the global cucumber seeds market. For instance, cucumber seeds are source of cucurbitin, an ingredient with innate diuretic properties. Therefore, excessive intake of cucurbitin leads to elimination of fluids such as water from the body, which will further lead to electrolytic imbalance in the body and might also leave the body dehydrated. Therefore, excess consumption of cucumber seeds can have negative impact on human health which in turn is expected to pose a challenge to cucumber seed market growth.

Among product type, cucumber seeds are offered as hybrid cucumber seeds and as open pollinated/heirloom cucumber seeds. Open pollinated seeds are traditional seeds of cucumber offered without any alternation of genome of the seed. However, in hybrid seeds, genes of the original seeds are altered by either chemical means or by naturally crossing over between two genetically different cucumber species. In hybrid seeds, as the genes can be altered, various required traits of the plant can be introduced such as pest resistance and draught resistance. Therefore, among product type, hybrid seeds segment is expected to gain major traction over the forecast period, owing to benefits offered by hybrid seeds such as high yield potential and disease resistance.

Moreover, players operating in global cucumber seeds market are focused on providing high quality hybrid cucumber seeds, in order to attract consumer base. For instance, Advanta Seeds, an agriculture company based in UAE, offers a variety of hybrid cucumber seeds including 'NALINI', 'LENYADRI', and 'CUR 122‘.

Furthermore, Asia Pacific is expected to hold significant market share in the global cucumber seeds market over forecast period. This can be attributed to increasing consumption of cucumbers in the region, owing to various health benefits offered by cucumber such as anti-oxidative effect. For instance, according to data released by Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations in January 2019, in India, production of cucumbers & gherkins was145.9 kiloton in 2007, which increased to 161.5 kiloton in 2017. Increased production of cucumbers indicates its increased demand, which in turn is expected to propel demand of cucumber seeds in Asia Pacific.

According to Coherent Market Insights, the global cucumber seeds market was valued at US$ 1,342.3 million in 2018 and is expected to register a CAGR of 4.2% in terms of revenue, over the forecast period (2019–2027), to reach US$ 1,939.6 million by 2027.                        

Figure 1. Global Cucumber Seeds Market Share, By Region, 2018

Source: Coherent Market Insights, 2018-19

According to Coherent Market Insights, Middle East is expected to gain significant traction over the forecast period. This can be attributed to presence of top cucumber producing countries in the region. For instance, according to data released by Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations in January 2019, top 10 producers of cucumbers and gherkins for the period of 2000 – 2017 includes Iran, Egypt, and Turkey. Moreover, as per the same source, production of cucumbers and gherkins in Iran was 1.74 million ton in 2010 and increased to 1.98 million ton in 2017.

Figure 2. Global Cucumber Seeds Market Share, By Product Type, 2018

Source: Coherent Market Insights, 2018-19

Moreover, key Players operating in the global cucumber seeds market are adopting various growth strategies such as mergers and acquisitions, and capacity expansion, in order to expand their product portfolio. For instance, in November 2018, BASF SE opened global state-of-the-art breeding center for cucumbers in Nunhem, Netherland with investment of US$ 55 million. This new breeding center will help BASF SE to expand its cucumber seeds portfolio, globally.

Major players operating in the global cucumber seeds market include, Bayer Group, BASF SE, Groupe Limagrain, Syngenta, AG, Advanta Seeds, Sakata Seed Corporation, Semillas Fitó, SA, Yüksel Tohum A.?, Johnny's Selected Seeds, and satimex QUEDLINBURG GmbH