China eyes fewer, stronger crops seed companies

China's crop seed companies have declined in number over the past three years due to mergers and acquisitions, and the government encourages them to become globally competitive, a senior official said on Tuesday.

The number of seed enterprises in China decreased to around 5,200 from more than 8,700 in 2011, down by 40 percent, Yu Xinrong, China's vice minister of agriculture, said at a press conference.

The number of Chinese seed companies whose registered capital exceeds 100 million yuan (16.2 million U.S. dollars) jumped to 106, up nearly 200 percent during the period, said Yu.

The combined sales volume of China's biggest 50 crop seed companies accounted for more than 30 percent of the total, and the top 10 industry leaders spent a total of nearly 600 million yuan on R&D annually, he added.

China encourages mergers and acquisitions of domestic crop seed companies and supports them to improve R&D, production, management and service capabilities to narrow their gaps with global leaders, Yu said.

China's combined crop seed export volume has surpassed 300 million dollars annually, data from the Ministry of Agriculture revealed.