Malayan Flour Mills and Toyota Tsusho form feed alliance

The joint venture allows the newly established company, Premier Grain Sdn Bhd, to leverage on Toyota Tsusho's global supply network to get more feed grains, said MFM managing director Teh Wee Chye.

MFM will own 51% of the joint venture, with the remaining 49% held by its Japanese partners.

"The joint venture will allow us to grow further in terms of economies of scale and with this, we can put more grains in the pipeline through their global network already established," Teh said.

The feed grains will be used internally and be for sale in the Malaysian market, he said.

Teh said MFM was currently importing about 300,000 tonnes of feed grains such as corn and soyoil and hoped to increase the amount to 500,000 tonnes via the tie-up.

"The grain market in Malaysia is about three million tonnes annually. So, there is more room for us to secure a bigger market share," he said.

MFM is engaged in the milling and selling of wheat flour with its allied products. Other activities include processing and selling of poultry products, breeding and selling of day-old chicks and eggs, contract farming services, manufacturing and selling of animal feed and related raw materials, provision of transport management services, and investment holding.

Toyota Tsusho, a member of the Toyota Motor Group, is the largest trading company in Japan with businesses across the industry involving raw materials, agriculture and high technology. The company is currently handling feed grains from Brazil, Argentina and Australia.