Kumiai Chemical: Nurturing new products for fruit and vegetable cultivation

Eisuke Ishihara, who became president of Kumiai Chemical Industry in January, said that Japan is “blessed with water, soil and climate conditions that allow the cultivation of a variety of crops across the country in all seasons. You cannot find another country like Japan that is so fully engaged in agriculture.” He sees the company’s mission as one to provide farmers with the most suitable pesticides for their needs, regardless of cultivation acreage, to support the securement of stable and safe food supply.

Would you describe your approach since taking office?

Ishihara: First of all, I comprehensively broadcast the management mindset to all employees using the three key words of speed, cost and innovation to raise our corporate value as a business dealing in pesticides. In my visit to each of our sites in Japan and abroad, I called on employees to make Kumiai the best Japanese company in terms of a fostering work environment and corporate culture. After peaking in the early 1980s, our sales had unfortunately been declining, but our sales last fiscal year ended in October are expected to surpass the year-ago amount, so the management mindset appears to be taking root across the board. We wish to use this occasion to come together into a company that can continue to improve corporate value.

Domestic demand for pesticides is gradually declining or staying level.

There is room for business expansion still, if we firmly grasp market needs and other appropriate products. What we need is a product lineup that meets market requirements such as high pesticide efficacy, environmental protection and labor savings. We reinvented our marketing department by reviewing our sales strategy based on regions and crops to increase domestic sales. Although we have a strong image as a supplier of paddy pesticides, we recently added products for fruit and vegetable cultivation as well, such as Colt insecticide, which was jointly developed with Nihon Nohyaku, and Supracide insecticide, whose rights Zen-Noh (the National Federation of Agricultural Co-operative Associations) acquired from Swiss company Syngenta. We will accelerate our development of this segment.

We are also advancing R&D based on market needs. As part of this, we took our formulation technologies to the next level and developed Mametsubu, tablets for direct application, which enables uniform dispersion of active ingredients with less drift and offers many different ways of spreading such as by using hands, ladles, pest-control machines or unmanned helicopters. Our pesticide business will be expanded with the addition of Oribright fungicide and Starkle insecticide to our existing portfolio.
Kumiai debuted a long-awaited herbicide.

I have a special fondness for pyroxasulfone, which was recently registered as a pesticide by Australian authorities, because I was involved in its development. It is a new compound with a unique structure for the cultivation of wheat, corn and soybeans, and I think it will prevail for at least a decade as a soil-treatment agent and herbicide, and generate 30 bn yen ($385 mn) in annual sales on an active ingredient basis. Our target markets include the US, Australia, Brazil, Europe and Russia.

What is your vision for the company?

Overseas development is as important as the domestic market. Our Nominee paddy herbicide and Staple herbicide for cotton cultivation have already been disseminated to markets abroad, our Valbon fungicide against downy mildew became the top seller for potato cultivation in the Netherlands this year, and with pyroxasulfone joining their ranks, we feel confident. Without innovation, the growth of a company ends, I think. We have many promising candidate agents in our development pipeline that we intend to launch in phase. In view of this, we have started to draw up a growth strategy for the medium and long terms. At the minimum, we want to grow our company into one with annual sales exceeding the previous peak. I expect that the proportions of our domestic and overseas sales will be about the same at that time.