February 15, 2015
Ajinomoto goes for value-added products to beat competition
The Ajinomoto brand continues to blaze the trail especially in the field of animal nutrition.
Recently the Ajinomoto Animal Nutrition Group Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Ajinomoto Co. Inc. announced it is increasing its annual production capacity of the feed grade amino acid Tryptophan manufactured and sold in France from 4,500 tonnes to 7,500 tonnes.
The expansion carries with it the introduction of a new technology to enhance its competitiveness while strengthening the flexibility of its production system, which can switch product lines in response to changes in market prices of feed-use amino acids.
Ajinomotois now pursuing value-added products that incorporate new technologies and innovations. Among these innovative products is a dairy-cow amino acid capable of passing through four stomachs to the intestines. The production volume of AjiPro-L''s, a rumen protected Lysinefor dairy cow, has grown to 6,500 tonnes per year, and Ajinomoto is planning to expand production further to over 10,000 tonnes per year by 2016.
"We can focus on these types of feed-use amino acids, which our competitors can''t follow or would face a challenge to follow," Ito said with confidence.
This year Ajinomoto targets its newer products to account for 40% of its projected ¥4-billion ($34-million) of amino acid sales.
Fermentation-based amino acids are added to animal feed to improve the growth of livestock. Ajinomoto launched its feed-use amino acids in 1964 at its Kyushu plant in Japan.
The Group has since built an international production and supply network, which has made it into one of the world''s leading manufacturers of feed-grade amino acids.
The feed-use amino acid business continues to grow, and the Group is developing it into a core business. This business is driven by factors including: the use of amino acids as a replacement for valuable natural protein sources; countermeasures to environmental problems caused by nitrogen pollution; the increase in meat consumption in Asia and Central and South America; and the modernisation of animal feed formulation.
The Group has five manufacturing bases for feed-grade amino acid: one each in Thailand, France and the United States, and two in Brazil.
The Group produces feed-grade amino acids L-Lysine, L-Threonine, L-Tryptophan and L-Valine.