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Sakata, a key international seed company

Sakata is a key player in the seed business.
This international seed company has evolved since 1913 while retaining what makes it unique: its Japanese origins, its mindset, and its values.

Sakata’s staff are on a mission clearly defined by Hiroshi Sakata, president of Sakata Seed Corporation: “We contribute to the betterment of life and culture of the people around the world and aim to become the world’s leading seed company, with values created through our innovative flower & vegetable varieties and through our services”.

A long-term
success story

Sakata was founded in July 1913 by Takeo Sakata and is currently chaired by one of his descendants, Hiroshi Sakata. This exceptional continuity has enabled the company to maintain a family spirit and build a long-term vision.

Both these aspects generate very positive impacts such as employee retention, customer loyalty and, investor confidence.

Over more than a century, Sakata has developed:

from a seed exporter/importer to a breeding company
from a broccoli specialist to a multi-crop seed company
from a Japanese company to an international group – Sakata Seed Corporation – present on 4 continents.

What makes Sakata
so special?

It’s all about passion! PASSION is not just a corporate slogan for Sakata’s teams.

It really means something. Each letter represents a core value that they can incorporate in their everyday practices. These strong values provide unity, and a sense of purpose. What matters for the whole company, is not just what it does, but how it does it, resulting in a shared vision.

The group's
main activities worldwide

Sakata’s business is predominantly structured around plant breeding, seed production and sales:

Sakata develops vegetable and flower varieties that solve agricultural and gardening issues, making sure that plants are suitable for local conditions.
Sakata produces and sells seeds in different region of the globe to secure production for growers
Sakata sells its seeds either directly to growers, or via plant raisers and distributors, depending on the country.

Sakata EMEA vegetables focuses on these key activities in the EMEA region: Europe, Middle East and Africa.

Sakata’s main business areas: vegetable seeds-2

Sakata breeds, produces and sells vegetable seeds

Sakata's main business areas: flower seeds

Sakata breeds, produces and sells flower seeds

Some key data

In 2023, Sakata employed 2700 people globally, who together, achieved €519 M consolidated turnover.

Sakata’s portfolio covers 140 species and counts 3000 varieties of flowers and vegetables which are sold in 170 countries.

On the flower market, Sakata is the world leader for lisianthus and the world leader for broccoli and butternut squash on the vegetable market.

To meet local demands, Sakata has set up 36 subsidiaries and research centres on 4 continents. High-quality seeds are now produced in 19 countries.

Sakata is listed on the first section of the Tokyo Stock Exchange: to check its stock price, click here.

Committing to the future

With 20% of its staff working in research, Sakata is always looking ahead to develop varieties that meet today’s and tomorrow’s expectations.

For the company, the future is also built on values. Sakata expanded its commitments in 2022, to integrate mutual harmony into its corporate philosophy, which is now based on these 3 pillars:

Mutual prosperity: prospering along with customers and suppliers
Mutual interest: fostering mutual prosperity of employees, management, and stockholders
Mutual harmony: aiming for continuous coexistence with nature, society being connected to its natural surroundings, and companies being an integral part of society.

These principles are conveyed in Sakata’s sustainable development policy.