Sumitomo’s distribution company to be established in Paraguay

Sumitomo Corporation (Head Office: Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo; President and CEO: Masayuki Hyodo), has decided as part of its strategy to grow its crop protection business in South America to establish Summit Agro Paraguay (Head Office: Ciudad del Este, Paraguay; hereinafter, “SAPY”) in August (date tentative) as an affiliate of Summit Agro South America SpA (Head Office: Santiago, Chile; Representative: Daniel Stante; hereinafter, “SASA”), a holding company that administers crop protection distribution companies in the region. This will be the first crop protection distribution company established in Paraguay by a Japanese corporation.

South America’s crop protection market has grown steadily as rising populations have led to greater food demand, and is now said to be on the order of US$14 billion (approximately 25% of the world’s crop protection market). In 2015 Sumitomo Corporation founded SASA, a crop protection regional headquarters company for South America, subsequently putting in place a five-country (Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru) crop protection sales network and pursuing integrated regional operations. SAPY’s establishment will reinforce SASA’s business foundations and help further improve agricultural productivity in South America.

Paraguay is South America’s third largest soybean producer after Brazil and Argentina (and the world’s sixth largest), and the crop protection market is expected to continue growing as cultivated area and the use of specialty crop protection products (herbicides, insecticides, and fungicides) increase. SAPY will enhance its product portfolio by promoting the introduction and development of new crop protection products being developed by Japanese crop protection companies , and will provide customers with quality services by utilizing the SASA’s business knowledge of crop protection for soybeans. The aim is to expand sales to US$25 million over the next five years.

Sumitomo Corporation’s crop protection business got its start in crop protection export trading activities with Japanese manufacturers in the 1970s, and it has helped improve the productivity and efficiency of agriculture in numerous countries. Its current strategy is to become more deeply involved in the downstream sectors of value chains, and it is engaged in distribution in more than 30 countries mainly in Europe and the Americas. Sumitomo Corporation is also working to expand its business scope and earnings by, for instance, acquiring agricultural material retailers in Brazil, Romania and Ukraine.

The Sumitomo Corporation Group through SAPY will be promoting exports of Japanese crop protection companies’ products as well as meeting the rising demand for crop protection products in Paraguay.

Reference 1: Structure of the SASA Group *The locations in Ecuador, Peru and Paraguay are branches.

Reference 2: Profile of SAPY

Company name: Summit Agro South America SpA Sucursal Paraguay
Head office location: Ciudad del Este, Paraguay
Company form: Branch of Summit Agro South America SpA
Principal businesses: Development, registration and sales of crop protection products in Paraguay
 
Reference 3: Sumitomo Corporation Group’s global crop protection business network



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