Mitsubishi Corporation (MC) announced today the progress of its Comprehensive Business Alliance with Itoham Foods Inc. (Itoham) and Yonekyu Corp. (Yonekyu), concluded on January 30, 2009. Details are as below.

 

The three companies established an Alliance Promotion Committee dedicated to the three fields of “Meat”, “Processed foods” and “Distribution”. They also established sectional committees for each area and conducted concrete studies as follows.

 

(1) Meat

 (a) Enhancement of domestic feed and meat business

 Aims: To enhance meat production infrastructure and forge relationships with other producers by utilizing MC’s feed supply capability and Itoham and Yonekyu’s meat sales capability.

 

 (b) Enhancement of global meat production and sales business

 Aims: To improve procurement of imported meat and enhance meat production infrastructure overseas.

 

 (c) Consolidation of primary processing function

Aims: To improve productivity of primary raw meat processing by consignment production or consolidation of equipment.

 

The three companies aim to increase their meat sales and contribute to the sound development of the feed and meat industry in Japan and abroad.

 

(2) Processed foods

 (a) Consignment production of processed foods

 Aims: To improve productivity by consignment production or other measures between Itoham and Yonekyu. Itoham is strong in consumer products, while Yonekyu has a competitive edge in food products for institutional use. Both companies aim to reduce their production cost and make their processed foods production and sales much more competitive.

 

 (b) Reduce material cost

 Aims: To realize efficient procurement by consolidating Itoham and Yonekyu’s demand for basic ingredients and materials.

 

(3) Distribution

 Aims: To improve distribution by sharing logistics equipment.

 

The three companies aim to realize 8.0 billion yen annually within three to five years from FY2010. The numbers below are the sum of their net operating profits, broken down according to field.

 

(1) Meat                           4.5 billion yen

(2) Processed foods     2.5 billion yen

(3) Distribution                1.0 billion yen

              Total                    8.0 billion yen