Japan’s Fuji Oil Group has announced the establishment of Fuji Europe Africa BV in the Netherlands “as part of its mission to create the future of delicious and healthy foods.” Fuji Europe Africa BV will be responsible for creating new businesses based on its portfolio of plant-based solutions, including ingredients for meat analogs and highly functional ingredients. It will also expand its European cocoa-based fillings and compounds, oils and fats business, which is based in Ghent, Belgium under the name Fuji Oil Europe, through enhancing this business’s core competencies.

As part of the Group’s globalization strategy, Fuji Europe Africa BV has been tasked with being the center for regional strategy development and implementation and will play a key role in overseeing and optimizing the Group’s global supply chain. Fuji Europe Africa BV will take the first steps in internationalizing Group R&D activities through enhancing co-creation with other Group companies and innovating with external partners, including Europe’s leading agri-food universities, research institutes and food technology start-ups.

Fuji Europe Africa BV is also tasked to extend its activities in West Africa. The company will engage not only in ensuring a stable and sustainable supply chain for key raw materials, but with new activities including a feasibility study in Burkina Faso funded by The Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), the Japanese government overseas aid organization, with the aim of improving local nutrition and opportunities for women to generate income through the procurement, processing and selling of soybeans in the form of “soy meat” products. This project contributes to realizing the UN sustainability goals of “zero hunger” and “gender equality.”

Fuji Europe Africa BV will be headed by Mr. Naohiro Rokukawa.

“The Fuji Oil Group has more than 50 years’ experience in utilizing plant ingredients and has constantly innovated to provide our customers with highly functional solutions to meet the changing needs of consumers. We aim to build on the well-established base we have in the global chocolate, oils & fats business by expanding our activities in Europe and Africa to support our customers in providing consumers with delicious and healthy eating options,” he says.

“The current business in Europe generates over €200m and the intention is to grow this extensively. This turnover mostly comes from the cocoa fillings & compounds and oils & fats businesses at present,” Rokukawa tells. “We see market opportunities in strengthening the core competencies of the above businesses and in expanding into Eastern Europe. Within Western Europe, we see opportunities for our soy protein business, which includes meat and cheese analogs. This will be new to the European market,” he adds.

“We want to see where the Fuji Oil Group’s extensive expertise with products such as soy-based meat analogs can be localized for the European market. This may include working with European partners with complementary expertise or market know-how for mutual benefit,” Rokukawa explains.

Fuji Europe Africa BV has been set up in line with the Fuji Oil Group’s objective of delivering on the Mid-term Business Plan “Towards a Further Leap 2020.”

“The current set-up in Belgium has been quite isolated and remote from the rest of the Fuji Oil Group, and by establishing the Dutch entity we will create a direct and shorter chain to our key markets and greater interaction within the Group. The Dutch entity is also intended to be the Group Hub for open innovation and external partnerships, particularly in R&D,” he adds.

The Fuji Oil Group is a leading specialty ingredient company with a strong base in the specialty oils & fats, industrial chocolate and soy-based ingredients sectors. Headquartered in Japan and a key player in its domestic market, the Group has developed a strong international presence in Asia and has gradually expanded activities to Europe, the Americas, Africa and Australia.

With a quarter of all staff having a technical background, the Group has been responsible for many innovations, including cocoa butter equivalents, soy-based meat analogs and, more recently, soy-based cheese analogs. The Fuji Oil Group is committed to meeting the UN Sustainability Goals and is actively following a sustainability agenda to ensure responsible sourcing of its key raw materials.