Olam manufactures and markets a range of branded packaged food products to consumers across multiple African markets. Our portfolio currently counts six key brands that are marketed to more than ten South and West African markets.
With the growth of equatorial Africas palm oil industry, Olam is leveraging our regional experience and partnerships to develop sustainable Oil Palm Plantations in the region. We are building a robust and sustainable upstream business, and plan to harness our food distribution channels and products to build up capabilities in our midstream and downstream value chain, especially for niche markets.
Olam is a leading supplier of edible nuts and nut ingredients, producing and processing in all major global origins and distributing these to our customers worldwide. This distinctive position leverages our solid value chain integration from farm to factory gate, enabling us to offer a reliable supply of nuts and nut ingredients at competitive prices all year around.
Olam first began its cashew journey more than twenty five years ago exporting Raw Cashew Nuts (RCN) from Nigeria. Today, we are global leaders in both Raw Cashew nut trade as well as in blanched cashew kernels and ingredients.
Olam entered the hazelnut business through the acquisition of the Progda Group in Turkey, at the end of 2011. Progda was founded by Pisani & Rickertsen GmbH, Hamburg in 1988. This acquisition makes Olam one of the leading manufacturers and suppliers of natural and semi-finished hazelnut kernels to the global confectionery industries and amongst the top three hazelnut exporters from Turkey.
Olam is the only peanut processor present in each of the worlds major peanut producing and exporting origins, which together account for close to 90% of global trade. To ensure we deliver high quality product at a competitive price to our customers, we have made significant investments across the peanut value chain, right from farming to state-of-the-art ingredient processing facilities.
Olam has been in the sesame business for more than a decade and enjoys a strong leadership position. We started the business from Nigeria and East Africa, where we had synergies of cost-sharing with other products in our Group portfolio. Over time we have improved our presence across origins and markets thereby expanding our participation across trade flows, and are a preferred supplier to some of the worlds big sesame customers.
Olam is one of the worlds largest coffee companies, with over 20 years in the business and a strong presence in almost all of the large coffee-producing regions which is well-supported by an extensive network of marketing offices across the worlds coffee consuming countries.
Olam is the dairy ingredients supplier of choice to many markets and end users. Commencing in 2004 with the supply of our first consignment of milk powders into Algeria, we have since grown into a dairy business with extensive operations across more than 20 countries worldwide. Today we are among the top five traders of dairy ingredients in the world.
Olam started as a grains originator, marketer and processor in 2008. Today, we focus mainly on wheat but are slowly building up our involvement with other grain products such as maize, barley, sorghum, rye, flaxseed, chickpeas and soybean meal.
Olam is one of the leading players in the global rice trade, involved across the entire rice value chain from origination to distribution. Our strong presence in the worlds major importing and exporting regions has enabled us to gain insights into market demand and supply and helped develop long-standing relationships with both producers and consumers. This has established a unique competitive position for us. Our efforts to build distribution networks in destination markets are matched by our selective backward integration into the logistics and origination part of the value chain, a strategy that has given us a strong foundation to profitably grow our rice business in the future.
Olams sugar business began in 1995 with the import of our first consignment into Nigeria and Ghana, where we already had a widespread procurement network and infrastructure from our agri-product origination operations. Leveraging these capabilities and warehousing, we were able to ensure sugar provision to customers close to the point of sale and consumption.
Our presence in key producing countries, coupled with our processing and logistics capabilities and industry-leading standards, not only eliminates origination complexities, but also delivers a best-in-class performance that creates long-lasting customer value by: Capitalising on unparalleled economies of scaleCarving out cost-saving efficiencies wherever they ariseDedicating ourselves to measuring and improving results
Olam is one of the worlds largest cotton companies and a universal supplier of all cotton growths to the worlds textile markets. Today, we have a global supply network of over 100, 000 farmers, ginners and suppliers, matched by an established and diversified customer base across all our markets. We maintain cotton operations around the globe.
Olam recognised the potential of fertilisers as a new growth segment for our Agri-Inputs business in 2009, as a result of the acknowledged mismatch between limited new arable land available, and the growing demand for agricultural produce to meet increasing globalisation needs.
he worldwide activities of the wood products division include the sustainable harvesting of natural and plantation forests, industrial processing, third party sourcing, logistics, trading and marketing. Dedicated employees ensure that our products meet the highest quality standards and are shipped in a timely manner in order to satisfy the demands of our diverse customer base in markets across the globe.