Market Share and CAGRs – Japan’s Agrochemical Producers

Internet research found ten Japanese public chemical companies that report separately in their annual reports on agrochemical sales.  These companies are identified in the following table:

Company		most recently reported sales		market share
Ihara		¥18,142,000,000	$178,708,985	2.8%
Ishihara Sangyo Kaisha		¥50,364,000,000	$496,113,951	7.8%
Kumiai		¥49,283,000,000	$485,465,489	7.6%
Meiji		¥21,500,000,000	$211,787,188	3.3%
Mitsui		¥51,408,000,000	$506,397,943	7.9%
Nihon Nohyaku		¥39,171,000,000	$385,856,556	6.0%
Nippon Soda		¥43,321,000,000	$426,736,409	6.7%
Nissan		¥35,418,000,000	$348,887,378	5.5%
SDS Bioteck K.K.		¥13,034,000,000	$128,392,289	2.0%
Sumitomo		¥327,000,000,000	$3,221,135,376	50.4%
	total	¥648,641,000,000	$             6,389,481,565

The total world-wide agrochemical sales for the ten companies in the most recent year reported on in their annual reports is approximately 649 billion yen (6.4 billion US dollars at an exchange rate of 102 yen to 1 USD).  (European and American companies, such as Syngenta and Dow that sell agrochemicals in Japan are not included in the graph because these companies do not report Japanese agrochemical sales separately in their annual reports.)

The percentage of the total sales that each company has is shown in the graph.  Also, from the annual reports, the compound average growth rate (CAGR) for each company, based on the most recent three years of agrochemical sales, was calculated.  The average CAGR for the ten companies is 7%.

Agrochemical use in Japan seems to me to be uniquely innovative.  The use seems to place a strong emphasis on such things as economical agricultural land-use, high quality agriculture products, and ecological considerations.  Recognizing this use, Japan’s chemical companies, e.g. those listed in the table, have wisely tailored their research and development programs to meet the desires of the Japanese people for its agriculture.  And these programs have been innovative.   One example is the use of small drones to apply agrochemicals.  Other innovations include: “resistance-breaking” agrochemical mixtures; new agrochemical classes; and agrochemical use in rice paddies.

Japan’s development of its agricultural industry, and the ways in which the agrochemical-producing companies support that industry, I suspect, positions those companies well for agrochemical sales in other countries that respond favorably to agriculture in Japan.