Nitto Flour Milling Co. and Fuji Flour Milling Co. announced Tuesday they have signed an agreement to merge on April 1, creating the nation's fourth-largest flour milling firm.
Among Japanese flower milling companies, Nitto Flour, based in Tokyo, ranks fourth with 34.6 billion yen in sales for the business year to last March, while Shizuoka-based Fuji Flour ranks seventh, with sales of 11.9 billion yen.
The companies said they hope to expand their business and promote streamlining through the merger to deal with intensifying competition expected from increasing amounts of imported flour products.
The new company will be named Nitto Fuji Flour Milling Co., and Nitto Flour will be the surviving company, they said, adding the merger ratio will be 0.71 Nitto Flour share for each Fuji Flour share.