August 4, 2021

Please tell us about the progress of the annual plan and future initiatives for the marine products business.

We will keep an eye on it as market conditions will affect it. We will continue to work on cost reduction for the aquaculture business. Regarding the effects of the coronavirus, we will secure sales by leveraging our strengths in mass retailers.

Please tell us the details of your future initiatives by dividing the marine products business by area and function (fishery, aquaculture, etc.).

It is difficult to forecast because the fishery business changes depending on the actual fishing conditions.
Regarding the domestic aquaculture business, tuna is gradually showing the effect of cost reduction through joint feed purchase and operation collaboration in Seinan Suisan and Kaneko Sangyo, domestic group companies. Coho salmon finished landing in the first quarter and catches were strong. As for the environment surrounding buri yellowtail, the number of natural juvenile is very small, and it is a good business environment for our group companies to work on complete aquaculture without relying on nature, so we think that we will continue to earn profits in the future.
Market prices for trout salmon in South America are rising, and it is expected that some profits will be secured.
The domestic processing and trading business is risk hedged by thoroughly managing inventory while the fishery market is rising overall, so we are not worried. We believe that Chilean coho salmon have little room for market price increases.

Please tell us about the future impact and countermeasures for the high price of raw materials in the food products business.

In particular, the price of white fish and surimi is soaring, which causes a corresponding increase in cost. Domestically, there are no plans to raise the Product's price so far, but i an increase in sales will cover it. Overseas, we plan to absorb the impact of high costs by raising product prices.

In North America, where vaccination is progressing, the performance of commercial frozen food companies is recovering, and the performance of household frozen food companies is also steady. Please tell us about the background and continuity.

In addition to strengthening and expanding products that we have not been able to tackle in the past (frozen food for household use: shrimp raw material, frozen food for food service: white fish raw material), we believe that sales expanded as customers reaffirmed the goodness of frozen foods in the last year's demand for nesting.

In the food products business, the performance of chilled business is improving, but please let us know if there is anything that is progressing better than expected.

In the previous fiscal year, the impact of the coronavirus hit directly to the chilled business and caused a large loss. In the current fiscal year, we have built a personnel system and raw material procurement according to orders, and profits have stabilized. Currently, production volume and profits are almost as planned.

Regarding the overseas export of pharmaceutical raw materials in the fine chemicals business, I think that the document review is in progress and you are waiting for a factory inspection by the FDA. Please tell us about the progress since then.

It is possible to conduct inspections on remote, but the inspection method and timing have not yet been decided.

The results for the first quarter have been significantly higher, but please tell us what you think about the continuity of the strong performance in the future.

In addition to the high raw material price of the food products business, considering not only the change in the sales environment due to the influence of the coronavirus, but also the production system and procurement outlook in Southeast Asia and the future trend of the number of infected people worldwide, we are not optimistic about future performance. However, considering the recent performance of overseas companies, we believe that it is doing well.

Is there any continuity in the profitability seen in the results for the current quarter? Also, please tell us if there is a factor that boosts profits due to transients.

Overseas, in addition to expanding the food business in the United Kingdom through M&A, it has been steadily strengthening its strength in Europe by improving production capacity in France and starting sales to Germany. In North America as well, as the number of types of raw materials handled by frozen food companies has increased, the product lineup and customers have expanded, and we have been able to improve our business performance. On the other hand, the strong sales of test kits for coronavirus by Nissui Pharmaceutical, a domestic group company, are expected to decline once the coronavirus is converged. It is positive from the current environment, but there is an element that depends on the coronavirus infection status in the future.

Is it a positive factor that the spread of the coronavirus worldwide has ended, and the flow of people will increase as we move toward normalization? I would like to confirm whether there is a reaction to securing profits in the current environment.

We consider it positive to move toward normalization. Currently, there are concerns about supply due to variations in vaccination status in each country, but we do not think negatively.