Pork Is The Main Ingredient In Recipe for Success and Expansion

The people of Japan have always held food safety in very high regard. With varying health hazards and illness as a result of contamination in the news recently, suppliers must be even more vigilant in their safety processes. We all see how the results of a lax food safety policy can be catastrophic to health as well as business.

With today’s world marketplace continuing to experience imported and exported edible goods all over the globe, customers in Japan are as steadfast as ever in their resolve to protect their customers from any shipped foods that may have contamination problems. Because of Japan’s longstanding concern and its traditionally protective policies, companies shipping foods to Japan must adhere to the strictest guidelines, as well as gain and maintain the trust of its customers.

Sumitomo Corporation of America’s Food Business Unit, a member of the Living-Related Business Group, has gained the loyalty of Japanese food suppliers by maintaining a pristine reputation; SCOA food exports to Japan adhere to the most rigorous of standards. SCOA began a relationship with pork supplier Smithfield Packing Company to ship pork and pork-related products to Japan in 1993, and in the sixteen years that followed, SCOA built its name as a trusted supplier in the Japanese food business. Today, Smithfield Foods Group exports over 100 million pounds of pork in its overseas operations.

“This is due in large part to a supply system that guarantees accountability,” said Tadashi Yamashita, Director and Head of SCOA’s Meat Business in the Food Business Unit since 2003. “The unique point of our business model is our ‘farm to fork’ benefit. While some suppliers sell to a large number of distributors without controlling the end users to whom they sell, we don’t. We are superior in our methods because we take responsibility all the way down the line. We have traceability all the way back to the farm. It’s a food safety issue, and we can develop great tasting meat, so that our customers are comfortable and safe too.”

“A majority of  others in the business buy from the open market to find the cheapest ones, but our supplier Smithfield Packing Company is involved differently. The priorities are comfort, safety, and great taste.”

Back in 1993, Smithfield Farms was the number eight supplier of pork in the United States, but has since expanded and now Smithfield Foods is the largest export pork supplier in the world. SCOA still maintains an exclusive agreement with Smithfield Packing Company as the only exporter of Smithfield Brand pork to Japan. As a result of our well-cultivated relationships and other changes in the import pork price regulations, the unit’s pork export sales have doubled in the past five years.

The quality of the product, Yamashita said, keeps the customers coming back.

“It goes from a price-oriented issue to quality-oriented issue when it comes to food,” Yamashita said. “We continue to supply them because they believe in the integrity of our product. Our supplier is involved in the farming, in the transporting & delivery, Smithfield even has special procedures for breeding pigs; the theory is that good mothers and good fathers make good products, and they have special feed programs which makes them taste better as well.”

One new and exciting opportunity for both SCOA and Smithfield Foods is the emerging Vietnamese market for consumer goods.  The Food Business Unit reported recently that several factors indicate that now is the best time to begin aggressively marketing U.S. meat products to Vietnam.

“Vietnam is the second-fastest growing economy in Asia,” explained Masaaki Kokubo, General Manager of SCOA’s Living-Related Business Group. “Vietnam has a young, educated population; over 65% of the 89 million people are under the age of 30, and Vietnam has experienced a significant population shift from rural to urban areas.  Vietnamese middle- and upper-classes are growing, and with this growth comes the demand for middle-income consumer outlets, like supermarkets and convenient stores. As the middle class continues to grow, Vietnam will have to look overseas to support the new demand in these outlets.”

The meat of choice in Vietnam is pork; pork accounts for almost 80% of all meat consumption in Vietnam, or about 1.9 million metric tons per year. Pork imports to Vietnam, which only began in 2007, are still small in number but increasing rapidly. SCOA has already concluded an export sales contract of Smithfield frozen pork to Vietnam. According to Mr. Kokubo, we can become a pioneer in this emerging market by utilizing Sumitomo’s integrated corporate strength.

“We are now building our market strategy together with Smithfield, and we hope that through our combined effort, we can prove to be a future force in Vietnam,” Mr. Kokubo said.

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