New Players in the Global Sesame Seeds Market
For years, India has been one of the forerunners in the global sesame market. With recent occurrences of natural disasters damaging sesame seed farms in India, however, consumers are now turning toward alternative sources in Africa. The market for sesame seeds is forecasted to surge during the period of 2018-2024, with Europe growing as the newly rising market.
A farmer hulling sesame seeds
Sesame seeds have been one of the most favored crops to farmers for its resistance to withstand unfavorable weather conditions and grow with minimum attention. Sesame seeds are also extracted into an oil to be used in various industries in addition to being consumed in its seed form. As an excellent source of vitamins, irons, and magnesium, sesame seeds and its oil are used as additives in many cuisines. Recent studies from National Institute of Technology in India show that sesame seeds may replace mineral oils as lubricants and become an eco-friendly alternative. Further research is imminent, and there are high hopes of sesame oil becoming the efficient alternative in the near future.
Sesame Seeds Production: Will Africa Replace India?
The overall sesame seed production has been steadily increasing for the past 10 years, having reached 6.1 million tonnes in 2016. This presents an upward trend for future productions, as the market is expected to reach 9.5 million tonnes by 2025.
Featured: the treemap of major producers of sesame seeds (source: Tridge)
In MY 2016/17, the production of sesame seeds in Ethiopia dropped from 302,300 metric tonnes in 2015 to 267,867. In 2016, Ethiopian farmers switched to other harvesting crops that were known to be more profitable than sesame seeds both in the domestic and the international markets. Thus, the production amount did not meet its average yield. For the season of 2018/19, however, the harvest yield is expected to increase. Ethiopia claims that for the upcoming sesame seed harvest season, 13 million hectares of land will be dedicated to cultivating 374 million quintals of crops.
Nigeria is not only one of the top exporters of sesame seeds, but also one of the top producers. Comprising 7.5% of the share of the market, Nigeria ranks 6th in the overall sesame seeds production. The production is expected to grow by 40% in the 2017/18 harvest season. The Nigerian government had recently outlined a 5-year plan to invest in sesame seed farming. Triggered by the rising demand from one of its top importers, Japan, the Nigerian government expects to increase production to 20 million tonnes per year by 2022.
China is the biggest importer of sesame seeds (source: Tridge)
The production volume of India has been lagging since its major plunge in 2016. The production yield for 2017/18 season is anticipated at 455 million tonnes, which is 70 million tonnes less than that of 2016/17. This is mainly due to the poor climatic conditions in production regions in India. The Eastern and Western regions, which are known for their production of sesame seeds, were severely hit by floods and monsoons. With the detrimental weather conditions, crop damage was inevitable, causing a bleak turnout for the production of the crop.
Sesame Seeds Trades in the Global Markets
The total import value of sesame seeds was USD 2.8 billion in 2016. China accounts for 46.5% of the total imports, followed by Turkey, Japan, South Korea, Vietnam, and Israel. Altogether, they hold 78.1% of the overall import of sesame seeds. This is mostly due to their cuisines that require sesame seeds and oil. Asia has seen a considerable increase in the fast-food industry, in which sesame seeds and oil have been the base for decorating and frying food.
Despite China’s recent trends of low import, which has decreased 2.8% annually due to weak investments, the import rate of sesame seeds rose by 16.5% compared to that of the previous year. This is mainly due to the fact that sesame oil, an extract of sesame seeds, is one of the most popular cooking oils in China. Imports were expected to decline due to the recent trade war with the U.S., however, imports have increased more than anticipated. In May 2018, overall imports in China rose 26%, providing a positive outlook to the import of sesame seeds.
Greece, the New Forerunner
Since the outbreak of the 'trade war' between China and the U.S, the sesame seeds price has been highly volatile. Despite high uncertainty in sesame seeds price forecast, the overall market of sesame seeds is growing rapidly.
The Asia-pacific has been the leading importer of sesame seeds for years. This, however, may change in the future as Europe is stepping up their imports of sesame seeds with Greece as their forerunner.
The growth of sesame seeds imports in Europe is noteworthy: the import rates are on a constant increase of 3% annual rise. The rise in imports was triggered by challenges faced by European suppliers in producing adequate sesame seeds. In 2016, imports of sesame seeds in Europe increased to approximately 155,000 tonnes.
Although Ethiopia and Tanzania have been the most dominant suppliers of sesame seeds, the two countries are not in the process of harvesting for the rest of the year. Egypt and Kyrgyzstan, on the other hand, will begin their harvest for the fourth quarter, making them a favorable alternative for sesame seed consumers for the rest of the year.
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References
2. https://www.envisioninteligence.com/industry-report/global-sesame-seeds-market/
3. http://allafrica.com/stories/201806190602.html
5. https://atlas.media.mit.edu/en/profile/country/chn/#Imports