Sumitomo opens a branch office to expand herbicide sales in Argentina

Sumitomo Chemical Brazil, a wholly owned subsidiary of Sumitomo Chemical Company, has opened a branch office in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Argentina is one of the world's leading farming countries and the third-largest producer of soybeans, following the US and Brazil. With food demand to continue to grow in the emerging markets and elsewhere, it is anticipated that agricultural production, especially soybeans output, will increase in the future.

Flumioxazin, a herbicide used in cultivation of crops such as soybeans, has seen strong sales worldwide thanks to its outstanding efficacy, and Sumitomo Chemical has expanded its production capabilities to meet a surging demand for the product, with an additional production line at its Oita Works coming on stream in October last year.

Sumitomo Chemical has thus far worked with Sumitomo Chemical Brazil, and a local distributor, Summit Agro Argentina to undertake the development, registration, and distribution of crop protection products in Argentina. To further strengthen its sales network for crop protection products, especially flumioxazin, the Company has opened a new branch office of Sumitomo Chemical Brazil in Buenos Aires.

Sumitomo Chemical has a strategic sales alliance with Australian agrochemicals company Nufarm covering 20 countries and a business collaboration with Monsanto, a leading U.S. agricultural biotechnology company. It is the Company's intention that the new Buenos Aires Office will play a role in expanding its sales alliance with the two companies to include Argentina.

Sumitomo Chemical positions Latin America as a strategically important area for its crop protection chemicals business. Besides Argentina where the branch office is located, Sumitomo Chemical, through its group companies, has entities in Brazil, Chile, Ecuador, Colombia, Costa Rica and Honduras. The establishment of the Buenos Aires branch office will add momentum to the Company's initiatives to further strengthen and expand crop protection chemicals business in Latin America.