Land O’ Lakes, Mitsui Form Cheese Venture

Spurred by a rising global demand for cheese, Mitsui & Co., Japan’s largest trading company, has formed a joint venture with dairy cooperative Land O’Lakes Inc. to help build its new $142-million cheese plant in Tulare, Calif. Under the terms of the joint venture, Mitsui will pay $40 million for a 30% stake in the previously announced facility, which will have the capacity to process 6 million pounds of milk a day, said spokesman Hiroyuki Sakai. The plant, which will open in April 2001, is expected to generate annual sales of about $305 million. Mitsui officials say they expect demand for cheese, which is growing at an annual rate of 2% to 3% worldwide, to continue to expand. In Japan, which is just beginning to emerge from years of recession, cheese is about the only food item for which demand is rising, Sakai said. Tokyo-based Mitsui generated 11% of its $105 billion in sales from food items in the year ended March 31. Cheese makes up a “very, very small portion” of the total, Sakai said.