Meeting the Needs of the Growing Veterinary Medicine Business in Brazil

The worldwide pet product and medicine market continues to grow exponentially with each passing year. The present size of the Brazilian veterinary medicine market is about 1.6 billion U.S. dollars, having grown by more than 8% on average annually since 2012, and will continue to expand steadily. To that end, Sumitomo Corporation (“SC”) recently delivered a letter of intent to form a strategic partnership with Ourofino Saúde Animal, a Brazilian veterinary medicine manufacturer, for the joint evaluation and exploration of businesses opportunities in this business sector in Brazil. Focused on the sale of Japan-made veterinary medicines and licensing of manufacturing technologies to Ourofino, SC is exploring supply options for veterinary medicine ingredients to the company, aiming to deliver high-quality veterinary medicines in Brazil and liaise with Japanese companies who look to further their interests in South America.

In terms of the number of companion dogs per capita, Brazil ranks as the second in the world, following the United States. Additionally, Brazil is the world’s leading livestock country, with the number of cattle being the world’s largest, and the world’s third- and fourth-largest number of pigs and chickens, respectively. In the future, the country’s global position as a livestock exporter will rise with an increasing demand for meat, caused by the growth of the world’s population and the improvement of living standards in Asia and other emerging economies.

As a highly competitive company, Ourofino is the largest local veterinary medicine manufacturer in Brazil. It has a wide product lineup for veterinary medicines for both livestock and companion animals, and exports its products to countries across the world. “Ourofino has a good distribution network and some unique products,” observed Yu Kakima, Director and Head of SCOA’s Life Science Unit. “With this alliance, we will contribute to differentiate Ourofino’s product portfolio by introducing our subsidiaries’ products and/or trading products from some third parties.”

Since its 2015 acquisition of a 25% share in Shandong Sinder Technology, a Chinese veterinary medicine manufacturer, Sumitomo Corporation has expanded its livestock medicine business across the world. Based on the partnership formed in Brazil, Sumitomo Corporation will work to expand the business across the country and to other South and Central American regions, Africa and Asia, thereby contributing to meeting the increasing demand for meat and food safety and security.

Other investments in recent years include Piedmont Animal Health, a US company that develops pioneering veterinary medicines for companion animals, and in February 2018 invested in Petgo, a Japanese pet supplies e-commerce firm, thereby expanding the companion animals medicine business. SCOA is no stranger to the pet care industry; in 2004, SCOA and SC acquired longtime pet care supplier The Hartz Mountain Corporation, which it now owns jointly with Unicharm. Additionally, SCOA launched Summit Vet Pharm in 2007, an animal health company that marketed and sold its products directly through veterinarians; that company was sold to CEVA, a global veterinary pharmaceutical group, in 2010.

For more information, contact Yu Kakimi at: yu.kakimi@sumitomocorp.com