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Read about the latest developments across the business, including our global sustainability initiatives.
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Our American story began in 2002 when we started exporting cotton from the South East.
From one employee in a small office in Wilmington, North Carolina, over the years we have grown to employ over 2,000 people across more than 20 locations. A snapshot of our operations include:
Cotton
In the USA, our business is diversified across the major growing regions of Texas, Memphis, Georgia, California and Arizona, with ginning and warehousing infrastructure in several locations. We are a leading supplier of all the USA cotton varieties and have an exclusive marketing agreement with Liberty Agricultural Cooperative Association.
We are committed to the traceable and sustainable supply of cotton. We are a member of the Better Cotton Initiative (BCI), a progressive step to formalising a sustainable cotton supply to consumers. Through the BCI, we have helped farmers and retailers verify their cotton standards, improving their marketability.
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Nuts
In the ‘State of Abundance’ that is California, we farm around 4,000 hectares (ha) of almond orchards as well as buy from other growers. We also have walnuts and pistachios. As with all our growing operations are committed to stewardship of the environment.
In peanuts, Olam has become the most vertically integrated supplier in the USA industry with assets in shelling, blanching and ingredients. Our 7 processing facilities are strategically placed across the main peanut growing regions of Texas, Georgia, Alabama and North Carolina.
Annually, our USA peanut operation processes enough peanuts to supply the entire national population with over 1 pound of edible peanuts! We prioritise strong relationships with all growers, along with food safety and on-time delivery for our customers.
Spices
Olam Spices is strategically headquartered in the western United States, in Fresno, California. Our offices are close to where our onion, garlic and parsley are developed from seed or clove, cultivated and harvested by our ag team. On site, we also have an Innovation and Quality Center, where our chemists, microbiologists and food technologists collaborate with customers to deliver products consumers will love.
This region is supported by our four onion, garlic and parsley processing facilities, which are located up and down the western United States to accommodate our migrating onion harvest. Our vertically integrated operations in the US also extend into the Southwest, where our red, green and specialty chiles are grown and processed. In New Mexico, our team operates two processing facilities that are solely focused on chiles to support our retail, foodservice and CPG customers.
Olam Spices’ sustainably grown and fully traceable US products offer reliability of supply and unmatched food safety, which are further backed by our always on-trend, flavor innovations. This is why our team is proud to be the leading supplier of onion, garlic and chiles in the world.
Across all of our operations we are committed to helping farmers prosper, communities to thrive and landscapes to re-generate. Read more about efforts here.
Meet the Team
We have a broad presence in the USA, and rely on over 2,000 talent employees across more than 20 locations.
Greg Estep,
Managing Director & CEO, SpicesCountry Specific Resources
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California Supply Chain Transparency Act DisclosureDownload [463KB,PDF]
Also in the News
20th Sep, 2021
Olam International Limited publishes further information on Olam Food Ingredients for investors
Singapore
Olam International Limited (“Olam”) has today published further information for investors with respect to the planned demerger and IPO of Olam Food Ingredients (“OFI”), a global leader at the forefront of food and beverage consumer trends.
‘Introduction to OFI for investors’ highlights OFI’s attractive portfolio and strong growth prospects, driven by a proven and repeatable growth model which is expected to deliver low to mid-single digit annual volume growth and mid to high-single digit annual EBIT1 growth in the medium-term.
The presentation also reiterates OFI’s strong momentum going into the second half of 2021, with H1 2021 year-on-year EBIT growth of 29.5% and continued EBIT margin expansion.
OFI was created in early 2020 following a re-organisation of Olam to unlock and maximise Olam’s long-term value, including an IPO and concurrent demerger by the first half of 2022. It was announced in August 2021 that OFI intends to seek a primary listing on the premiu
16th Jul, 2020
Disclosure of cooperative suppliers in Côte d’Ivoire
In October 2019 we launched Cocoa Compass, our sustainability ambition for the future of cocoa. With milestones for action in 2020 and 2024, it sets concrete goals for 2030 across our global, direct cocoa supply chain. These goals will help us achieve our vision of an environmentally positive, professionalised and quality focused cocoa supply chain comprising farmers earning a living income and whose children have access to education.
11th Jun, 2021
UN World Day Against Child Labour 2021: Putting children first in cocoa
By Andrew Brooks, Head of Cocoa Sustainability, Olam Food Ingredients (OFI)
This week, the world’s attention turns to a heavy burden that can damage a child’s health and education: child labour. In OFI’s cocoa business, we are focused on solving this problem every day.
Most child labour in cocoa relates to children carrying out hazardous tasks on the family farm, distinct from the much rarer issue of forced labour, and has no one cause. Labour laws can be misunderstood, and schools might be located far away. Even if there is a school nearby, children may not have the documents they need to enrol. When combined with rural poverty, many parents think their child’s time is best spent helping on the farm. And now, these cocoa-growing communities are also battling a global health pandemic.
We’re working to tackle each of these challenges in turn. Under our Cocoa Compass sustainability ambition, we aim to completely eradicate child labour from our direct supply chain by 2030 and ens
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