OREANDA-NEWS. February 10, 2016. ITOCHU Corporation (headquartered in Minato-ku, Tokyo; Masahiro Okafuji, President & CEO; hereinafter “ITOCHU”) announced today that it has agreed with Transmar Group (headquartered in New Jersey, United States; hereinafter “Transmar”) to invest in a newly formed United Kingdom private limited company called Transmar Group Ltd.

Transmar specializes in the sourcing, manufacture and sales of cocoa beans and products with sourcing bases in West Africa and Central/South America, which are major producing areas, and manufacturing bases in the United States and Europe, which are major chocolate consumption areas. ITOCHU, through capital participation in Transmar, which is the one of the top five global suppliers of cocoa beans and products, aims to create synergies by cultivating its sales and distribution network in fast-growing Asia and the Middle East market, where ITOCHU has strength. In addition, ITOCHU aims to strengthen and expand the supply system of sustainable ingredients, for which social demand is expected to grow in Asia in the same manner as in the United States and Europe.

ITOCHU promotes the establishment of a global value chain that extends from the secured procurement of food resources upstream to product processing/manufacturing and wholesale midstream and retail businesses downstream. ITOCHU’s equity participation in Transmar’s business is intended to strengthen the global cocoa/chocolate value chain and enhance the supply of sustainable ingredients, which will lead to a sustainable society in furtherance of the corporate philosophy “Committed to the Global Good.”