Major Growth Drivers of LED Grow Light Industry

Giants join, competition is fierce:

The LED plant lighting market is hot, and domestic and foreign giants such as Zhongke Sanan, Mitsubishi Chemical, BOE, and Panasonic have also deployed in order to seize market opportunities. As an international lighting giant, Osram, in order to consolidate its leadership in the field of grow lights, has also expanded its product portfolio and market applications by acquiring the industry giant Fluence. At the same time, global enterprises are increasingly seeking cooperation, and import and export trade has increased.

Wide range of applications:

With the impact of global climate change and urbanization on traditional agriculture, the demand and energy consumption of plant lighting continue to expand. At the same time, with the maturity and popularization of LED lighting technology, LED lighting has also begun to be used in the agricultural field, becoming a benefit of the LED industry. base market.

At present, there are four main types of plant lighting sources on the market: LED lamps, fluorescent lamps, high pressure sodium lamps, incandescent lamps and halogen lamps. Compared with traditional plant lighting fixtures, LED plant lighting fixtures not only have the characteristics of energy saving and environmental protection, but also have the advantages of free combination of spectrum, high color purity and rich colors.

With the continuous improvement of LED plant lighting technology, its application fields will become more and more extensive, including the top floor of skyscrapers, vertical farms, greenhouse canopies, homes, shopping malls, and even abandoned containers, etc., can develop plant lighting.

Plant factories are popular:

From the perspective of agricultural development, modern agricultural development, due to the use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides, has been able to rapidly increase production to supply the huge food demand generated by the surging population, which has contributed greatly to solving the global food and poverty problems. However, traditional agriculture is purely dependent on the weather. Not only is crop cultivation limited by climate and seasons, and it cannot be produced as planned, even if crops are harvested, they will be affected by the increase in quantity and price. In addition, farmers use a large number of pesticides to prevent pests and diseases in order to ensure the harvest. , thus causing food safety doubts, and in order to increase production capacity, excessive use of chemical fertilizers not only increases costs, but also pollutes farmland, rivers, lakes and oceans, and may cause excessive nitrate content and harm consumers. On the other hand, the global construction industry is eager to seek new development by investing in agriculture due to the economic downturn and the reduction of public construction projects. Chain catering and supermarket companies hope to build their own vegetable bases to form a stable supply of raw materials. Due to the gradual transfer of manufacturing sectors overseas in the electronics industry, a large number of clean workshops for the production of precision devices such as chips have been idle. These workshops can be transformed into plant factories with only a little transformation. Therefore, the highly automated plant factory, which can be planted all year round like a factory, can produce fresh, hygienic fruits and vegetables on the spot, and the advantages of not causing pollution to the environment have naturally attracted the attention of the government and research institutes. , and the transportation cost saved by adopting the plant factory production mode, the plant factory has the opportunity to become a real alternative to the traditional crop production mode, which is why VCs and private equity funds pay attention to plant factories.

Vertical farms actively finance and expand production:

The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed major issues in complex food supply chains, such as shipping delays and under-predicted market demand, demanding products from local vertical and indoor farms (also known as controlled environment greenhouses in urban or rural areas) in unprecedented ways to fill in the blanks. Affected by multiple factors such as the global increase in the awareness of the food crisis, major vertical farm companies are actively financing and expanding production capacity. Vertical farm construction drives plant lighting to open a period of demand explosion.

Legalization of Cannabis Worldwide:

In the United States, more and more states are beginning to legalize marijuana for recreational or medical use. On April 19, 2021, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill that would allow banks to provide services to cannabis companies in states where marijuana is legal. Thirty-six U.S. states have legalized medical marijuana, and 17 states now allow adult use, according to data from the National Conference of State Legislatures. Indoor cultivation of special plants can increase the output of LED by 5%, and the energy consumption will also decrease. The investment of LED lamps can recover the cost within one year, but the LED lamps can be used for 5 years. Various types of high value-added economic crops, especially the vertical farming system solutions of medical cannabis plants, have a broad market demand, and have now become an important application for the downstream demand of plant lighting.