Singapore | Reuters –– Olam International has formed a joint venture with Mitsubishi Corp. to supply sustainable agricultural and food products to Japan, in the first tie-up between the two since the Japanese firm bought a stake in the commodity trader.
The joint venture, MC Agri Alliance Ltd., will import and distribute coffee, cocoa, sesame, edible nuts, spices, vegetable ingredients and tomato products. Mitsubishi will hold 70 per cent of the venture and Olam the remaining 30 per cent.
Mitsubishi, one of Japan’s biggest trading houses, took a 20 per cent stake in Olam last year and at the time said the pairing would help combine its processing, manufacturing and downstream business experience with Olam’s extensive and sustainable raw material supply platforms.
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Olam, in which Singapore state investor Temasek Holdings owns the controlling stake, is one of the world’s leading traders in commodities such as coffee, cocoa and rice.
Olam in mid-2012 took a 50 per cent stake in Lansing Olam Canada, a new Canadian grain trading joint venture with U.S. grain marketing firm Lansing Trade Group, but sold its stake back to Lansing in early 2014 and has no other Canadian operations.
Exiting Canada, the company said in 2014, would allow it to “concentrate our resources on the rest of our grains businesses.”
— Reporting for Reuters by Aradhana Aravindan. Includes files from AGCanada.com Network staff.
