Japan

Olam has been in Japan since 2011, supplying and serving what is now the fourth-largest coffee market in the world. We also import cocoa, nuts, spices and sesame.

Get in Touch

japan@olamnet.com

The coffee business continues to grow thanks to our level of service and local support to customers, including complete Vendor Managed Inventory solutions. We supply green coffee, specialty coffees and soluble coffee products to industrial suppliers, as well as supplying small roasters and local operations.

Our broader business development in the market has included the 2016 announcement of a joint venture with Mitsubishi Corporation - the MC Agri Alliance - to import and distribute a broader range of food products in Japan.

Discover Our Products

Ripe red coffee cherries growing on a bush, ready for harvesting, Guatemala, Olam.

Meet the Team

Since we established operations in Japan in 2011, we have focused on meeting Japan’s increasing demand for quality coffee.

Satoru Kakutani Olam's Country Head of Japan introduces his team.

Satoru Kakutani Vice President and Country Manager, Japan

Ripe coffee cherries on a bush. Olam sources coffee in Kenya, Guatemala, Laos, Yemen and Burundi.

News, Views and Insights

19^th Jan, 2021

Press release

Twenty Degrees launch brings specialty cacao to craft chocolate makers

London Today marks the launch of Twenty Degrees, a new specialty cacao business sourcing premium quality cacao beans from around the world. The new venture is backed by Olam Cocoa, one of the world’s leading suppliers of cocoa beans and cocoa ingredients. The premium chocolate market has seen significant growth in recent years as consumers become more interested in the provenance of their food and increasingly seek out high quality, artisanal products with a unique flavour and story. Twenty Degrees – named for the cacao belt which ranges twenty degrees north and south of the equator – is responding by sourcing premium quality cacao beans from ten unique regions, each hand-picked for their distinctive flavour and sensory profile. The business will unlock opportunities for farmers by bringing single origin cacao beans to market that are either too specialist or too remote to be sold to mainstream manufacturers. From cacao grown in the highland Simbu region of Papua New Guinea, to bean

1^st Oct, 2020

News

Coffee kiosk gives Brazilian smallholders direct access to global markets

Olam is experimenting with technologies that reach remote coffee farmers and empower them to sell to the company directly, thereby giving them access to global market prices. Its first kiosk in Ibicocara - Brazil's Bahia region, allows farmers to drop off coffee samples and then Olam manages the testing and pricing negotiation via its digital platform, Olam Direct. The company has received more than 50 samples in July, its first month of operation, and farmer feedback has been overwhelmingly positive. Olam hopes to roll out the kiosks to serve additional farmers in 2021 and the locations may offer other value-add services for farmers and their communities. Edmilson Rocha Aguiar, who farms 140 miles away from the closest Olam facility in Vitoria da Conquista, was one of the first participants in the kiosk test.

18^th Dec, 2020

Blog

Digital Tech Empowers Ghanaian Cashew Farmer

Olam Direct purchasing app adds funds and cuts expenses. An estimated 5,400 Ghanaian smallholder farmers are receiving better prices on their 3,100 tons of cashew thanks to Olam’s direct purchasing app Olam Direct. The app also benefits customers by providing greater traceability for their purchasing. Developed in-house, Olam Direct is one part of a robust, proprietary solution which offers a variety of apps and tools to not only provide greater transparency on pricing, but access to agri-inputs and farming advice like better fertiliser use and insights on efficient land use to fight climate change. The app is empowering farmers to get prices directly from Olam rather than from the traditional buying agents, which yields not only higher prices for their cashew but cost savings on their expenses, as Olam manages “last mile” collection. This can have significant impact on farmers and their communities: if the average daily food budget for a typical Ghanaian household was is 14-15

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