All of the leading firms in food manufacturing and agricultural
input industries are multinational, offering product sales spread
across several continents. One indicator of the degree of
globalization of agricultural input markets is the global
distribution of agricultural input sales. In 2006, member countries
of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA--United States,
Canada, and Mexico) accounted for about 23 percent of the global
seed market and 30-36 percent of global sales of agricultural
chemicals, farm machinery, animal feed, and animal health
pharmaceuticals (including those for nonfood animals). The
Europe-Middle East-Africa market (which is mostly Europe) had the
largest aggregate seed sales in 2006, whereas Asia-Pacific
countries used the most fertilizers and bought the most farm
machinery. Together, Asia-Pacific and Latin America are indicative
of the developing-country share of global agricultural input
markets. They account for 37-51 percent of global sales of crop
seed and chemicals, farm machinery, fertilizers, and animal feed.
This chart is found in the ERS report, Research Investments and Market Structure in
the Food Processing, Agricultural Input, and Biofuel Industries
Worldwide, ERR-130, December 2011.