Europe Biostimulants Market - Growth, Trends, Covid-19 Impact, and Forecasts (2023 - 2028)

Europe Biostimulants Market - Growth, Trends, Covid-19 Impact, and Forecasts (2023 - 2028)

The Europe biostimulants market is projected to register a CAGR of 9.5% over the forecast period (2022-2027).

The use of agrochemicals in Europe is changing over rising environmental concerns. The COVID-19 pandemic has added another factor to the situation by pushing up costs for farmers while reducing income. Further, as a result of the recent COVID-19 pandemic, the supply and demand got poorly hit, and this led to reduced demand for biostimulants in the market. The pandemic has also made it harder to get farm labor and affected the market dynamics in terms of demand falling off for some crops in the wake of the virus.

Over the long term, the Europe biostimulants market is anticipated to be positively influenced by the growing importance of a sustainable agriculture approach and the increasing development of new innovative products that target specific agronomic needs. Factors such as increased organic farming across the region, the need for enhanced yield, and increasing emphasis on sustainable farming would contribute to the market growth.

The European Union’s stringent regulations on environmental safety and support for organic farming paved the way for a flourishing biostimulants market in European countries, such as Germany, Spain, Italy, and France. High-valued crops such as fruits and vegetables are the major crop categories where biostimulants are mostly applied.

Consumer per capita consumption of organic food has almost doubled in the last decade in the region, and the expenditure of EU consumers was around USD 62.2 per capita on organic food in 2019. Switzerland spends the most on organic food, followed by Luxembourg, Denmark, and Sweden.

Further, in May 2020, the European Commission’s Farms to Fork Strategy stated that organic is a key sector to achieve the European Green Deal’s food ambitions. The strategy also stated that the market for organic food is set to continue and, therefore, organic farming needs to be further promoted. Thus, the rising expenditure on organic food by the country's citizens is promoting the demand for biostimulants. This, in turn, will drive the market for biostimulants in the years to come.

More consumers in the region are buying clean-label products that are produced with natural substances and processes. Therefore, biostimulants are significant for the future of the agricultural industry in terms of promoting organic practices. Biostimulants are associated with organic farming and are currently witnessing healthy progress in conventional agriculture as well in Europe.

Biostimulants have been generally applied to high-value crops like fruits and vegetables. Some of the major crops where biostimulants are applied are citrus, pome fruits, grape, olives, broccoli, cabbage, carrots, cauliflower, cucumber, onion, eggplant, turf, flowers, and ornamentals. Tolerance to abiotic stresses is an important trait for horticultural species because their cash value is usually higher than field crops.

Focusing on this, the European Union co-funded the BIOSUVEG project by the European Institute of Innovation & Technology (EIT), which aims to make vegetable cultivation more environmentally and economically sustainable by enhancing crop yields under challenging environmental conditions. The biostimulant products are derived from beneficial plant extracts, which naturally boost plant resilience to conditions such as drought and nutrient stress.

The European Farm to Fork Strategy is calling for a reduction of 50% of the use and risk of chemical pesticides, a reduction of nutrient losses by at least 50%, and a reduction in the use of fertilizers by at least 20% by 2030. This would further build a favorable environment for the biostimulants market growth.

The Europe biostimulants market is highly fragmented, with various small- and medium-sized companies and a few big players, resulting in stiff competition in the market. The development of regional markets and local players in different parts of the region is the major factor for the fragmented nature of the market. The major companies in the Europe biostimulants market include BASF SE, Biostadt India Limited, Biolchim SPA, Valagro SpA, and Isagro SpA, among others.

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