Visions - Spring 2020 - 12

FOOD BUSINESS

Sumitomo Corporation Andes
Eyes a Fruitful Future

W

ith the recent consolidation of three offices in
South America, Sumitomo Corporation formed the
new SC Andes region, under which the businesses
of SC Peru, SC Colombia and SC Ecuador now operate.
Forming a stronger regional hub, SC Andes merged the offices
in Lima, Bogota and Quito into one centralized Bogota-located
office, allowing the businesses in that region to streamline
administrative processes and clear a path for new and imminent growth in Sumitomo's fruit and vegetable export business.
To that end, SC Andes celebrated its first year with more than
1,000 tons of exported food products, and looks to emerge as
an export powerhouse in the coming years.
"This creates a solid platform for our suppliers to work
with us for new potential business in food export,"
explained Alberto Kahn, SC Andes Food Business
commercial manager. "Moreover, this puts SC Andes in a
better position to take advantage of Sumitomo's extensive
global network to reach new markets."

years, as well as enter new markets such as the US, Japan
and especially China, which is now the fastest growing
general market in the world." Kahn also cheerily noted
that avocados, known as the mother of all superfoods
because of their rich nutrient content, help supply the
ceaseless international demand for guacamole.

Kahn explained that the restructuring of the SC Andes
region has been beneficial, as they can work with suppliers to expand and diversify the company's current portfolio of food products, from frozen broccoli in Ecuador to
frozen avocados, mangoes, asparagus and seafood in Peru.
They are now able to explore new opportunities, as each
country in the Andes region has strong suppliers when it
comes to specific food products - which really presents a
whole new world of possibilities for this business.

"Blueberries are another example of a product we see
experiencing huge growth in the coming years," Kahn
indicated. "With shipments of $825 million in blueberries
in 2019, which revealed a 50% expansion compared to
the amount registered in 2018, Peru is now the world´s
largest exporter of blueberries. We are working closely
with Camposol, our main supplier in Peru and Peru´s
largest exporter of blueberries, to explore joint opportunities for the export of this product."

"We were confident that avocado would become a dominant product in our region," said Kahn. "Mostly thanks
to Peru having emerged as the second largest exporter of
Hass avocados in the world. Indeed, this success story has
seen Peru increase its export volumes to Europe in recent

In 2016, Camposol saw such growth potential that it
discontinued its traditional asparagus business to focus on
blueberries. Kahn noted that this focus was a precursor to
SC Andes' focus on reassessing overall market opportunities as well, which leads the way for SC South America.
"We have strongly moved ahead on the vertical
integration of our business across the Americas through
SC Andes, together with other SC South American
offices. This is a key for us to capitalize on South
America´s increasing reputation for food export,"
said Hideki Hijiya, SVP & Group GM, SC Americas
Food & Lifestyle Group.

12

visions

Spring 2020
Visions - Spring 2020

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Visions - Spring 2020
