Biotech crops exceed $6-B market value in 2006

The global market value of biotechnology crops in 2006 exceeded the $6-billion mark at $6.15 billion, registering a significant increase of almost a billion dollars over that of the previous year’s $5.25 billion.

The amount represented 16 percent of the $38.5 billion global crop protection market and 21 percent of the $30 billion global commercial seed market in 2006, the International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-biotech Applications (ISAAA) said.

Last year’s biotech crop market comprised $2.68 billion for biotech soybean (equivalent to 44 percent of global biotech crop market), $2.35 billion for maize (36 percent), $0.87 billion for cotton (14 percent), and $0.21 billion for canola (four percent).

"The market value of the global biotech crop market is based on the sale price of biotech crop seed plus any technology fees that apply," ISAAA, through its chairman and founder, Clive James explained.

Randy A. Hautea, ISAAA global coordinator, and former University of the Philippines (UP) president Emil Q. Javier, now president of the National Academy of Science and Technology (NAST), presented the progress report and the strides in the "biotechnology revolution" now prevailing across the globe in a recent media forum at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Ortigas.

2006 marked the first year of the second decade of the commercialization of genetically modified (GM) or transgenic crops, now more often called biotech crops.

In their maiden year in 1996, the GM crops recorded a global market value of $115 million.

The value increased to $842 million in 1997, $1.9 billion in 1998, $2.7 billion in 1999, and $2.73 billion in 2000.

In 2001, it soared to $3.23 billion, further to $3.65 billion in 2002, $4.13 billion in 2003, $4.66 billion in 2004, and $5.25 billion in 2005.

"The accumulated global value for the 11-year period since biotech crops were first commercialized in 1966 is estimated at $35.5 billion," ISAAA reported.

For 2007, the global value of the biotech crop market is projected at more than $6.8 billion.

A milestone last year was that the area covered by biotech crop exceeded the 100-million-hectare (ha) mark.

Another is that more than 10 million farmers planted biotech crops during the year under review.

"This unprecedented high adoption rate reflects the trust and confidence of millions of farmers in crop biotechnology," James said.

Farmers have consistently increased their plantings of crops by double-digit growth rates every single year since 1996, with the number of biotech countries increasing from six to 22.