Tokyo / JP. (aci) Ajinomoto Company Inc., a worldwide leader in high-quality seasonings and foods headquartered in Japan, is reinforcing its business infrastructure for frozen rice products to expand its frozen foods business in North America. Ajinomoto will build a new production line for frozen rice products at the Oakland Plant of Ajinomoto Windsor Inc. (AWI) to expand production capacity and create an efficient supply system throughout North America. Through this measure, Ajinomoto will increase sales of high-quality, specialty frozen rice products and accelerate the expansion of its frozen foods business in North America. Investment will total approximately 20 million USD (approximately 2.4 billion JPY), and the full-scale operations will begin in September 2016.
Note: In November 2014, the Ajinomoto Group acquired a full equity interest in Windsor Quality Holdings LP, the No. 1 Asian/Ethnic frozen foods company in North America, which conducts operations from the consumer business to food service, and reorganized it in April 2015 into Ajinomoto Windsor Inc. (AWI), a new company that handles the consumer foods business.
The frozen foods market as a whole in North America is approximately 40 billion USD (approximately five trillion JPY; Ajinomoto estimate for fiscal 2014). The market for frozen rice products in the Asian/Ethnic food category is approximately 120 million USD (approximately 14.5 billion JPY) and continues to grow by double digits each year. Since beginning frozen foods operations in North America in 2000, Ajinomoto has been steadily expanding the business, rolling out high-quality frozen rice products as one of its core lines.
Asian/Ethnic frozen rice products flavoured with chunks of meat and vegetables are popular in North America, and AWI holds the top share of this market at 47 percent. Its Portland Plant, which has an integrated production line from rice cooking to flavouring and packaging, currently produces high-quality frozen rice products supported by the combined production technology of Ajinomoto Frozen Foods Company Inc. and product development technology of AWI.
AWI will invest approximately 20 million USD (approximately 2.4 billion JPY) to build a new integrated production line for high-quality frozen rice products at its Oakland Plant in the eastern United States. Together with the existing Portland Plant in the western United States, this new line will expand production capacity by 1.5 times. Like the Portland Plant, the Oakland Plant is a USDA-inspected meat processing plant that can produce high-quality, specialty frozen rice products. By efficiently supplying products throughout North America from two production bases, one each in the east and the west, Ajinomoto intends to increase sales of Asian/Ethnic frozen food products through the powerful sales network of AWI, which covers all of North America, and rapidly expand its entire frozen foods business.
In the Ajinomoto Group’s FY2014 to FY2016 Medium-Term Management Plan, North America is positioned as a priority area where it aims to develop product quality and establish a sales network centered on the frozen foods business. In the massive North American frozen foods market, Ajinomoto will develop the Asian/Ethnic food category of the frozen foods market ahead of other companies to establish the clear No. 1 position and promote the penetration of the «Ajinomoto Brand» (Image: pexels.com).
