Cofco's international business volume exceeds that of China to complete asset integration by 2017.

After more than 6 years of international strategic layout, the goal of the whole industrial chain of Cofco is being gradually realized.

According to internal management sources of Cofco, last year, Cofco initially formed the layout of the global agricultural product supply chain by taking control of Noble Agriculture, which is owned by the Nedra Group of the Netherlands and the Noble Group of Hong Kong, and its international business volume has exceeded that of domestic businesses. become a veritable international grain merchant. In the past, when Cofco bought soybeans overseas, it had to find middlemen and suppliers to order them. Now, through holding Nidra, it can buy soybeans directly from farmers in Brazil and Argentina. In terms of the price of soybeans, get rid of the "control" of middlemen and suppliers.

The Economic Observer has learned that in the next step of the international strategic layout, Cofco will accelerate its layout and investment in North America on the one hand; on the other hand, it is planned to complete the asset integration of Cofco's domestic assets with the acquired Nidela and Noble Agriculture in Hong Kong in 2017. This also means that the integrated Cofco will become a "global agricultural company" that can compete with the four major international grain merchants "ABCD", namely ADM, Bonji, Cargill and Louis Dreyfus.

Industrial chain strategy

At the end of 2004, Ning Gaoning "parachuted" COFCO from China Resources Group and began to take charge of COFCO Shuaiyin. By 2009, Cofco formally put forward the whole industry chain strategy.

Why did you put forward the concept of "whole industry chain"? Ning Gaoning had a very vivid description at that time-"if a room is very nice, but the sofas and lights inside are very messy, it may be much more comfortable to rearrange it." This is the problem that Cofco is facing, so can we make Cofco's assets more orderly? " It was under such painstaking consideration that he finally thought of the need to implement the "whole industrial chain" strategy. "one afternoon at the end of last year (2008), I was at home and wrote the word 'industrial chain'.

Cofco is a domestic grain and oil giant. In the past, its business was mainly focused on the import and export trade of agricultural products and food. after putting forward the strategy of the whole industry chain, Cofco began to march into both the source and the terminal of the grain, oil and food field. and try to organically organize wheat, rice, corn, oil and oil, sugar, tomato, barley, meat and other industrial chains under the operation of the whole industry chain model. To achieve the whole grain, oil and food from "from the field to the table" unimpeded.

This year is the sixth year that Cofco has implemented the whole industry chain strategy, during which Cofco has made a series of acquisitions in agricultural products processing and food industry. in the domestic aspect, including Wugu Daochang, Mengniu Dairy, Huafu Group, Huafu Group and other large private enterprises and state-owned enterprises, "Cofco" companies have been listed on the stock market. Abroad, there are Australian Tarly Sugar Company, Netherlands Nidra Group, Hong Kong Noble Agricultural Company and other industry giants, becoming truly international grain merchants. The "whole industry chain" has also become a gold-lettered signboard of Cofco.

At present, Cofco is the largest comprehensive grain, oil and food enterprise and market-oriented grain and oil trading enterprise in China. In oil processing, flour processing, rice processing, corn processing, tomato processing, malt processing, dairy processing and other sectors are among the best in the industry, and the status in feed processing, sugar processing, meat breeding and slaughtering industry is also rapidly improving.

The pace of Cofco's international acquisitions is also accelerating. In 2011, Cofco acquired 99% of the shares of Australia's Tarly Sugar Company, and in 2014 it successfully controlled Niedra and Noble Agricultural Company, realizing the global extension of the grain and oil supply chain, thus having a certain pricing power in the international grain market and enhancing its competitiveness with the four major international grain merchants of "ABCD".

The Cofco official told the Economic Observer that Brazil is known as the "world granary". The T12A and Cere-alsul terminals located in Santos port are important logistics ports for Cofco to transfer soybeans, corn, wheat, sugar and other agricultural products in Brazil. Through these two terminals, Cofco can export agricultural products to major grain selling areas such as China, Europe and the Middle East, with an annual transit capacity of more than 5.7 million tons.

In addition, Cofco currently has two soybean crushing plants, four sugar factories and one transfer station in Brazil. The annual operating volume of grain and oilseeds in Brazil can exceed 8 million tons, with a total grain source of 7.4 million tons and a grain storage capacity of 1.81 million tons. These will play a guarantee role in stabilizing the domestic grain market.

The Cofco manager also said that in the current global grain and oil industry chain, from the upstream planting of agricultural products such as soybeans and corn to processing and marketing, they eventually have to rely on large terminals to realize logistics operation.

The port of Santos in Brazil is one of the most important distribution centers of global food trade, where it forms an important flow of global agricultural products in the eastern and western hemispheres. At present, the two terminals of Cofco's T12A and Cereal-sul are an important link in the value chain of global agricultural products.