Business trend
Japanese leading nursery companies are
strengthening their efforts substantially to develop the market in Central and
West Asian. Sakata Seed will establish a local company in Turkey coming April
to market such seeds as tomato, watermelon, and cabbage to local producers directly
or through local companies. All the seeds the company tries to market are F1
seeds that allow for uniform growth and stable yields. Because F1 seeds are for
one generation only, continuous demand for long periods can be expected. F1 is
higher in price than true bred, but its ability to realize high productivity
will surely benefit local producers.
The company is now active in Serbia and Uzbekistan,
and will set up a local base in Ukraine within the year to market cabbage and broccoli
seeds characterized by excellent storage quality in Ukraine and its neighboring
countries. It plans to increase sales in Central Asia, East Europe, and Russia
to 1,200 million yen in 2015. Takii, another leading nursery company, is also
exerting energy to develop the market in the Middle East and Africa. Tokita Seed,
in which Kirin Holdings invested, has been active in India that produces seven
times more vegetables than Japan for the past 10 years and enjoying a big share
in carrot seeds.
Japanese annual vegetable production is
about 13 million tons. The Japanese seed market will not grow as it did before
because of decreasing population and aging society. In addition, the
competition with such large companies as Monsanto is intensifying. Developing
foreign markets is the best strategy alternative for nursery companies. Surely,
offense is the best defense.
