KUMESHIMA SUGAR CO.,LTD. (E00367) Stock Price

Kumejima Sugar is a company based on Kumejima Island in Okinawa Prefecture, with its primary business being the manufacture and sale of raw sugar for industrial use. The company produces raw sugar—the stage before sugar refinement—using locally grown sugarcane as its raw material. It plays a key role in enhancing the added value of sugarcane, a representative agricultural product of Okinawa, and contributing to regional economic development.

The company's main customers are sugar refining companies, and it generates revenue by selling the raw sugar it manufactures as a raw material to these buyers. It secures stable sales channels through business relationships with its affiliated company Wellness Neo Sugar Co., Ltd. and related party Daiichi Sugar Co., Ltd.

Kumejima Sugar specializes in the single business of manufacturing and selling raw sugar for industrial use, maintaining a simple business structure with no multiple segments. The company also works with affiliated company Yumami Development Co., Ltd. to handle agricultural contracting, agricultural product production and sales, and the manufacture and sale of fertilizers and animal feed. This approach builds an integrated value chain from sugarcane production through processing.

Kumejima Sugar aims to establish a stable management foundation with targets of 70,000 tons of raw material production and 1,200 hectares of harvest area. The company actively cooperates with the public-private Kumejima sugarcane expansion project to improve factory operating rates through increased raw material production. The company is also pursuing productivity improvements through enhanced sugar yield via improved crop variety composition and reduced manufacturing costs through energy-efficient equipment upgrades and replacements.

The company's priority investment areas are concentrated on equipment modernization and efficiency improvements. In particular, upgrades to energy-efficient equipment reduce manufacturing costs and strengthen competitiveness. The company also focuses on improving sugarcane quality, with enhanced sugar yield through improved raw material quality serving as a pillar of its differentiation strategy.

For new market development, the company is advancing initiatives that leverage Kumejima's regional characteristics. Working with local government offices, agricultural cooperatives, and related organizations, the company is addressing abandoned farmland and strengthening organizations that serve as land recipients for elderly farmers and those leaving agriculture. By promoting rigorous ratoon management, which accounts for 60% of harvest area, and supporting agricultural production corporations in consolidating farmland and advancing mechanization and collaborative farming operations, the company is building a sustainable raw material supply system.

In technological innovation, the company is focusing on introducing cultivation techniques adapted to Kumejima's natural environment. To address the geographic challenge of being in a typhoon-prone region, the company is promoting typhoon-resistant crop varieties, installing windbreaks, and developing irrigation facilities. Through these weather disaster risk mitigation measures, the company supports stable farm management and aims to achieve both long-term raw material security and quality improvement.