Tate & Lyle to Strengthen Position in Japanese Market

25 Mar 2014 --- Global specialty food ingredients provider, Tate & Lyle, has announced the expansion of its direct sales capabilities in Japan, along with the opening of a new office in Tokyo. This initiative, which is in line with the company’s strategy to grow its specialty food ingredients business in Asia Pacific, will enable Japanese food and beverage customers to gain direct access to Tate & Lye’s team of experts to develop the next generation of food and beverage products.

Speaking to FoodIngredientsFirst, a spokesman for the company said: “By way of background, in May 2010, as part of a wider business transformation programme, we set out a very clear vision to grow our speciality food ingredients business in the faster growing markets in both Asia Pacific and Latin America.  Up until that point, Tate & Lyle had really concentrated on developing its business in Europe and the US. In line with our strategy, over the last three years we have invested in building our speciality food ingredients presence in Asia Pacific and Latin America.”

The spokesman explained that this investment has so far included: establishing local regional headquarters in Singapore and Sao Paolo, building a direct sales capability to enable the company to form direct customer relationships with regional food and beverage manufacturers, and building local technical capabilities to help customers innovate and get new products to market faster.

The main trends driving demand for speciality food ingredients are greater demand for convenience foods as more people live in urban areas, the spokesman explained. “Health and wellness is another driver, and rising cases of obesity and diabetes are driving consumers towards healthier options,” he said. ‘Natural’ is another driver.

“We have a number of products that we believe play to the trends listed above including, but not limited to: our salt reduction technology, SODA-LO® Salt Microspheres and our soluble fibre range including PromOat® Beta Glucan and Promitor® Dietary Fiber,” he said. 

Tate & Lyle’s global network of Applications and Technical Service laboratories include four in the Asia Pacific region located in Melbourne, Brisbane, Shanghai and Singapore. These facilities provide applications development, rapid prototyping, complete formulation and process and evaluation expertise to help food and beverage customers move quickly from idea to market.

“Japan’s food and beverage companies are highly innovative, so they expect nothing less than world-class experts to help them create new products,” said Joan Braca, Senior Vice President and General Manager, Asia-Pacific. “Tate & Lyle has the expertise, passion and innovation capabilities to work side-by-side with Japanese companies to help them bring new and exciting products to market.”

Braca added, “The expansion of our direct sales capabilities in Japan will provide us with a better understanding of the challenges faced by our customers and how best to help them meet consumer demands for better, tastier and more healthy products”.

Tate & Lyle’s Asia Pacific support includes sales teams and distribution partners in China, Japan, Singapore, Thailand, Philippines, Indonesia, Australia and New Zealand. Tate & Lyle also recently announced the expansion of its manufacturing presence in the region by signing an agreement to acquire Winway Biotechnology, a leading Chinese polydextrose speciality fibre business.

Winway is Tate & Lyle’s third polydextrose facility globally, in addition to existing lines in the Netherlands and the US. Polydextrose is a premium, low calorie bulking agent and dietary fibre, and it plays a key role in replacing the technical functionality of sugar. It provides bulk, body, texture and mouthfeel in reduced calorie, no-added-sugar and/ or high fibre foods. A soluble dietary fibre with prebiotic properties, polydextrose helps support gastrointestinal health, is very well tolerated, has a low glycemic/ blood glucose response and is clean tasting and easy to use.

By Sonya Hook