Last month I summarized cool-season grass seed export statistics published
in U.S. Planting Seed Trade by the USDA Foreign Agricultural Service (FFV4-95, November 1995). What follows in the tables below are import records for seed of all species produced in Oregon that was brought into the U.S. during the same 1994-95 market year.
Again, in making comparisons between Oregon's production and the imported quantities, I used total pounds produced in Oregon during the 1993-94 crop year (this is the crop year to which the import statistics relate) to compute the percentage for each species that was imported. This assumes that imported seed plus Oregon-produced seed equals the total volume of seed for a particular species. This is a pretty good assumption for everything except tall fescue and Kentucky bluegrass, which have significant production outside of Oregon.
All totaled, over 38 million pounds of cool-season grass seed was imported into the U.S. during 1994-95. Recall that Oregon produced over 543 million pounds in 1993-94, thus, as a percentage of the total (imported plus Oregon-produced) imported seed are only 7 percent. Although--as stated above, this percentage would be reduced if seed produced in other states was considered.
Just as it was easy to identify our "customers" from the export data shown last month, one can similarly spot the "competition" with a just a casual glance at these data. Very apparent in our domestic market is Canada. In fact, over 90 percent of all seed imported into the U.S. was produced in Canada--and 94 percent of that was fine fescue.
Once again I offer the caveat that these data represent a "snapshot in time," i.e., a country could be absent in the year reported for reasons related to shortages in their domestic production or pricing structure in the U.S. that reduces the opportunity to profit in our domestic markets.
1 Presented to the Oregon Seed Council on February 25, 1997
1994-95 PERENNIAL RYEGRASS SEED IMPORTS
| (lb) | (%) | |||
| Canada | 559,446 | 33.5 | ||
| (%) | ||||
| Denmark | 2,149 | 0.1 | 0.4 | |
| France | 220,195 | 13.2 | 40.0 | |
| Germany | 85,649 | 5.1 | 15.6 | |
| Netherlands | 158,819 | 9.5 | 28.8 | |
| United Kingdom | 83,775 | 5.0 | 15.2 | |
| TOTAL EU | 550,588 | 32.9 | 100.0 | |
| Taiwan | 52,073 | 3.1 | ||
| Australia | 88,184 | 5.3 | ||
| New Zealand | 422,126 | 25.2 | ||
| TOTAL | 1,672,416 | 100 | ||
| 1994 Oregon perennial ryegrass production: | 182,023,000 lb | |||
| 1994-95 imports into U.S.: | 1,672,416 lb | |||
| TOTAL: | 183,695,416 lb | |||
| (0.9% was imported) | ||||
1994-95 TALL FESCUE SEED IMPORTS
| (lb) | (%) | ||
| Canada | 227,023 | 18.9 | |
| (%) | |||
| France | 220,195 | 18.4 | 40.8 |
| Netherlands | 319,685 | 26.7 | 59.2 |
| TOTAL EU | 539,880 | 45.0 | 100.0 |
| Australia | 79,601 | 6.6 | |
| New Zealand | 352,590 | 29.4 | |
| TOTAL | 1,199,095 | 100 | |
| 1994 Oregon tall fescue production: | 73,849,000 lb | ||
| 1994-95 imports into U.S.: | 1,199,095 lb | ||
| TOTAL: | 75,048,095 lb | ||
| (1.6% was imported) | |||
1994-95 FINE FESCUE SEED IMPORTS
| (lb) | (%) | ||
| Canada | 32,535,967 | 99.5 | |
| (%) | |||
| Denmark | 43,816 | 0.1 | 49.5 |
| Netherlands | 44,114 | 0.1 | 49.8 |
| Sweden | 220 | 0.0 | 0.2 |
| United Kingdom | 445 | 0.0 | 0.5 |
| TOTAL EU | 88,596 | 0.3 | 100.0 |
| New Zealand | 88,751 | 0.3 | |
| TOTAL | 32,713,314 | 100 | |
| 1994 Oregon fine fescue production: | 22,057,000 lb | ||
| 1994-95 imports into U.S.: | 32,713,662 lb | ||
| TOTAL: | 54,770,314 lb | ||
| (148% was imported) | |||
1994-95 KENTUCKY BLUEGRASS SEED IMPORTS
| (lb) | (%) | ||
| Canada | 1,037,275 | 68.0 | |
| (%) | |||
| Denmark | 412,780 | 27.1 | 84.7 |
| Netherlands | 73,590 | 4.8 | 15.1 |
| Spain | 820 | 0.0 | 0.2 |
| TOTAL EU | 487,190 | 32.0 | 100.0 |
| TOTAL | 1,524,465 | 100 | |
| 1994 Oregon Kentucky bluegrass production: | 12,670,000 lb | ||
| 1994-95 imports into U.S.: | 1,524,465 lb | ||
| TOTAL: | 14,194,465 lb | ||
| (12% was imported) | |||
1994-95 BENTGRASS SEED IMPORTS
| (lb) | (%) | ||
| Canada | 162,569 | 99.6 | |
| (%) | |||
| Netherlands | 265 | 0.2 | 44.4 |
| United Kingdom | 331 | 0.2 | 55.6 |
| TOTAL EU | 595 | 0.4 | 100.0 |
| TOTAL | 163,165 | 100 | |
| 1994 Oregon bentgrass production: | 5,278,000 lb | ||
| 1994-95 imports into U.S.: | 163,165 lb | ||
| TOTAL: | 5,441,165 lb | ||
| (3% was imported) | |||
1994-95 ORCHARDGRASS SEED IMPORTS
| (lb) | (%) | ||
| Canada | 62,562 | 8.7 | |
| Uruguay | 937 | 0.1 | |
| (%) | |||
| Denmark | 246,408 | 34.5 | 48.3 |
| France | 187,942 | 26.3 | 36.9 |
| Germany | 68,673 | 9.6 | 13.5 |
| Netherlands | 2,370 | 0.3 | 0.5 |
| United Kingdom | 4,409 | 0.6 | 0.9 |
| TOTAL EU | 509,803 | 71.3 | 100 |
| Russia | 113,350 | 15.9 | |
| New Zealand | 28,351 | 4.0 | |
| TOTAL | 715,002 | 100 | |
| 1994 Oregon orchardgrass production: | 15,992,000 lb | ||
| 1994-95 imports into U.S.: | 715,002 lb | ||
| TOTAL: | 16,707,002 lb | ||
| (4% was imported) | |||
1994-95 ANNUAL RYEGRASS SEED IMPORTS
| (lb) | (%) | ||
| (%) | |||
| Belgium | 25,518 | 9.2 | 12.5 |
| Germany | 33,175 | 11.9 | 16.2 |
| Netherlands | 144,875 | 52.1 | 70.8 |
| United Kingdom | 1,102 | 0.4 | 0.5 |
| TOTAL EU | 204,671 | 73.7 | 100.0 |
| Japan | 40,790 | 14.7 | |
| Taiwan | 2,866 | 1.0 | |
| New Zealand | 29,487 | 10.6 | |
| TOTAL | 277,813 | 100 | |
| 1994 Oregon annual ryegrass production: | 231,825,000 lb | ||
| 1994-95 imports into U.S.: | 277,813 lb | ||
| TOTAL: | 232,102,813 lb | ||
| (0.1% was imported) | |||
Developed by William C. Young III and Sara Griffith.
Last updated: November 4, 1997