Nousouken Corporation x Summit Agri-Business Corporation x Sumitomo Corporation
Offering total support, from sales of fertilizer to sales of produce

Nousouken Corporation (Head Office: Shinagawa-ku, Tokyo; President and Representative Director: Hiroshi Horiuchi; hereinafter, “Nousouken”), Summit Agri-Business Corporation (Head Office: Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo; President & Representative Director: Akira Umeoka; hereinafter, “Summit Agri-Business”) and Sumitomo Corporation (Head Office: Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo; Representative Director, President and Chief Executive Officer: Masayuki Hyodo) are pleased to announce that they have concluded a business collaboration agreement effective January 29, 2020. The three companies will be providing producers of agricultural products with a full range of services, from fertilizer sales and cultivation guidance to sales of agricultural produce.

■Background and aims of business collaboration
Nousouken, in pursuing its vision of sustainable agribusiness that will enrich the lives of consumers, collaborates with producers nationwide and offers services enabling them to sell “fresh produce with a face” in urban supermarkets. Producers coming to a consolidating point can freely select the prices at which their produce is to be sold and the stores to which it is to be shipped. The produce brought to the consolidating point will be directly transported to supermarkets, and the producers will be offered feedback on their sales at each store. To expand its business, Nousouken needs to open new consolidating points and otherwise bolster its consolidation capabilities and to put in place an extensive supply structure.

Summit Agri-Business as one of Japan’s top fertilizer manufacturers/vendors has business locations across the country, and is the only such company in Japan to engage on its own in raw material purchasing, production, product purchasing, wholesaling, direct sales to producers and cultivation guidance. The company is seeking to expand the services it offers producers, supplementing its traditional focus on selling agricultural production materials such as fertilizer and agrochemicals by securing customers for agricultural produce.

Sumitomo Corporation has access to business companies within the Sumitomo Corporation Group capable of serving as consolidating hubs, as well as supermarkets able to serve as sales channels.

Business collaboration among these three companies will enable the creation of business locations that double as consolidating points and fertilizer shops, as well as total support for producers ranging from sales of fertilizer to sales of produce, aiming to supply “fresh produce with a face” to more customers.

■ Details of business collaboration
(1) Respective roles of companies
<Nousouken>
Nousouken will provide sales channels for the agricultural produce consolidated by Summit Agri-Business, and will arrange logistics to, and offer sales support at, sales locations (production of packages and POP suited to different types of agricultural produce).

<Summit Agri-Business>
Summit Agri-Business will use its own nationwide network of business locations and stores and will open consolidating points at various sites in order to sell fertilizer, offer cultivation guidance, and collect agricultural produce from producers.

<Sumitomo Corporation>
Sumitomo Corporation will offer support to promote this business model within its own corporate group and will strive to extend this business model to agricultural material vendors expanding overseas.

(2) Schematic diagram

(3) Future plans
Prior to agreeing on this collaboration, a consolidating point for producers to bring in agricultural produce directly was opened on November 27, 2019 at Summit Agri-Business’ sales office in Unzen, Nagasaki Prefecture, and sales begun at supermarkets in Osaka. This model will be deployed laterally to other regions in line with local consolidation and sales conditions and will be promoted at Nousouken consolidating points, with consideration also to be given to other agricultural-related businesses.

The three collaboration partners are also planning to supply consolidated agricultural produce to supermarkets in the Kanto region, including the Sumitomo Corporation Group’s Summit chain.

■Company profiles