Ajinomoto invests in new R&D centre
month it will invest 5 billion yen (€400,000) in a new R&D
centre at its Kawasaki plant.
The largest global fermentation company in terms of volume, Ajinomoto claims the project is part of a wider €3million investment, to transform the plant into an advanced technology development centre.
Slated for completion by June next year, Ajinomoto, a leading producer of amino acids and aspartame, claims the boost to IT technologies will aim to ensure the company's "competitive superiority and deepening communications with customers", reports JCNN.
The facility will feature a quake-absorbing structure and deploy environmentally-friendly and energy-saving equipment.
The investment follows swiftly on from news in April that Ajinomoto would pour in funds to ramp up production of its amino acid based flavour seasonings for the double-digit Thai market. The firm, that claims a 60 per cent market share of the flavour seasonings category, opened up a new €200,000 facility with a production capacity of 34,000 tons per year.
Proteins are made up of 20 different amino acids; nine of these - known as 'essential amino acids' - must be taken into the body from food because they are not synthesised in the body.
Ajinomoto leads the amino acid market (produced via fermentation), claiming more than 25 per cent of the market for the popular amino acid feed lysine and 30 per cent of the market for the umami ingredient, monosodium glutamate. US firm ADM and Germany's BASF also figure in the handful of players that dominate the landscape.
Pitched at €10.97 billion in 2004, the global market for fermentation products, that includes enzymes, amino acids, citric acid and xanthan gum, is expected to rise by 4.8 per cent per year, to reach €13.6 billion in 2009.
According to analysts BCC, amino acids is the second, and fastest growing category behind antibiotics in the €10.97 billion fermentation market, with strong growth of 7.2 per cent forecast for the next four years.
