Brazil

Ajinomoto is a global group, in the most literal sense of the word. With operations in Asia, Europe and Africa as well as North and South America, the Japanese giant has become a world market leader in areas as diverse as foodstuffs, chemicals, pharmaceuticals and animal feed.

Today, Brazil has a surprising number of thriving Japanese communities. Its premier business metropolis, Sao Paolo, is home to the biggest Japanese population in the world outside Japan.

While the expatriate Japanese population in Brazil has grown steadily over the years, business ties between the countries have gone through good and bad times.

The mercurial nature of the Brazilian business climate has been a difficult one for many Japanese companies and only a few have been able to survive. Still, they have shown that the Brazilian market can be conquered. It can even be profitable.
Shinzo Kagitomi, the president of Ajinomoto's Latin American operations

Established 45 years ago as a small sales outlet, Ajinomoto's Brazilian branch has grown significantly. Today, three factories based in the Sao Paolo region supply around 30 percent of the group's global monosodium glutamate. Products manufactured in Brazil are now exported to the U.S., Europe, Africa and the Mercosur free trade zone countries.

Given this, Shinzo Kajitomi, president of Latin American operations, feels there is still room for expansion in the Latin American markets. "Our responsibilities here in Brazil go from Mexico all the way down to Argentina," he said. "So we have a vast area to cover and the potential for growth is limitless.

"In the consumer goods business, for example, our activities are currently confined to Brazil, Peru, Ecuador and Bolivia, with small participations in the Caribbean and Central America," he said. "But there are many other countries to explore. We are not yet active in the Argentine or Mexican consumer markets and these show real promise. Today, 500 million people live south of the Rio Grande River and another 40,000 Latinos live in the U.S. The possibilities are great."

Kajitomi does not mention his past accomplishments. In 2000, Mid Sugar, a sweetener sold in stick-form packaging, won the 'Most Innovative Product' award at the Food Ingredient South America trade fair -- no mean feat as Brazil is one of the world's top consumers of sugar products.

In recent years, Ajinomoto has also made significant contributions to Brazilian society. This is a strategy the group pursues all over the world. "The business we have outside Japan exists with the help of the local communities who staff our manufacturing facilities. We feel that we should give something back to these people. So wherever Ajinomoto is present in the world, it tries to be a good corporate citizen. In some circumstances we even contribute in regions where we have no facilities at all.

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