Supply and demand of grass seeds are currently well balanced. That is the conclusion of the Grass Seed and Grass Sod Working Group now that the grass seed harvest of 2017 has been received by the trading companies.
The 2017 harvest did not yield high yields in the main production areas. The drought meant that grass seed yields often remained below the 5-year average. Southwest Netherlands, the largest grass seed growing area, in particular suffered from drought.
Red fescue and reed fescue yielded reasonable and sometimes good yields. In later varieties, such as perennial ryegrass, especially the late varieties, the yields were moderate due to the persistent drought. Also in Denmark, the main grass seed country in the European Union (EU), yields in 2017 were slightly below the 5-year average.
Area increase
In 2017, 13.311 hectares of grass seed cultivation were registered with the NAK. This represented an increase of the Dutch acreage by almost 6%, compared to 2016. Within the total, perennial ryegrass was the largest crop with 9.556 hectares, accounting for 72% of the acreage.
Grass seed stocks at the trading companies are generally at a reasonable level. The grass seed supply from countries outside the EU, especially the United States (US), will not change much in the coming months. The 2017 crop in the US showed moderate yields in general.
Price up
The market prices of grass seed, both for forage types and for lawn grasses, have increased slightly. This is due to the improved financial situation in dairy farming, which means that there is again financial scope to make expenditures. In the recreational sector, the recovery of the economy and the increase in construction activities are leading to an increase in the sale of grass seed and sod.
Sowing harvest 2018
The picture is that the grass seed trading companies are striving for an expansion of the acreage in the Netherlands by approximately 10%. Contracting for the 2018 harvest is generally going fairly smoothly.
The price level in the contracts is comparable to the prices for the 2017 harvest, with a small increase in some cases. Most contracts have already been concluded, but contracts are still being drawn up for perennial ryegrass in September, for Westerwolds ryegrass this will happen even later.
Reed swing expands
Perennial ryegrass will continue to be the largest crop in 2018, but the other varieties will also hold their own, especially because the Netherlands is able to produce high-quality grass seed. Here and there there is a slight expansion, especially in reed fescue.
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