MOSCOW (MRC) -- Japan’s Sumitomo Chemical has opened its first research and development (R&D) facility in Brazil called the Latin America Research Centre (LARC), said Chemical-technology.
With opening of the centre, the company also seeks to expand its business opportunities further in Latin America. Opened with an investment of R12m (USD3m), the new centre will conduct various trials, R&D, and analysis of the company’s AgroSolution products, including crop protection products.
Sumitomo Chemical’s fully owned Brazilian subsidiary will operate LARC, which is spreading across an area of around 48ha of land accommodating an experimental field, laboratory buildings, a green house, and other facilities.
The company said that LARC will help increase development of products suitable for the local conditions and requirements.
Furthermore, the new R&D centre will enable Sumitomo Chemical to conduct field trials of crops and other products in the Southern Hemisphere.
"Sumitomo Chemical said that the Brazilian crop protection market has become the world’s largest, even surpassing the US."
In addition to developing, distributing and selling crop protection products, household and public hygiene insecticides, LARC is expected to support Sumitomo Chemical’s other businesses, such as feed additive methionine.
The crop protection sector in Latin America is estimated to represent around 25% of the global industry market. Sumitomo Chemical said that the Brazilian crop protection market has become the world’s largest, even surpassing the US.
Last month, the company announced its plan to establish a new marketing base for its polypropylene (PP) compound business in Mexico and provide manufacturing capabilities in India.
We remind that Sumitomo Chemical and Sekisui Chemical (Tokyo) said that they are combining their respective polyolefin films business under a new joint venture, which is due to start operations in July this year. The new joint venture, Sumika Sekisui Holdings, will be owned 35% each by Sumitomo and Sekisui and 30% by the private-public partnership Innovation Network Corporation of Japan (INCJ; Tokyo).
Sumitomo Chemical is a Japanese based manufacturer of a diverse range of products, including basic chemicals, petrochemicals and plastics, fine chemicals, agricultural chemicals, IT-related chemicals and pharmaceuticals.
MRC