On April 1, 2024, Mitsui & Co., Ltd. ("Mitsui", Head Office: Tokyo, President and CEO: Kenichi Hori) will merge its wholly owned subsidiary, Mitsui & Co. Retail Holdings Co., Ltd. ("MRH"), and four business operating companies under the umbrella of MRH (Mitsui Foods Co., Ltd., Vendor Service Co., Ltd., Retail System Service Co., Ltd., and Bussan Logistics Solutions Co., Ltd.), which engage in the distribution of food products and daily necessities for retailers and foodservice operators. The new company, Mitsui & Co. Retail Group, Ltd. ("MRG"), will play a central role in Mitsui's distribution strategy, pursuing the enhancement and sophistication of the distribution of food products and daily commodities.

In recent years, prices of raw materials and energy in Japan have remained high due to the rapidly changing international situation and the impact of the yen's depreciation. In addition, inflationary pressures are expected to increase along with labor shortages. In the logistics industry, there are also concerns over further labor shortages being triggered by the enactment of the Act on the Arrangement of Related Acts to Promote Work Style Reform in April 2024. Against this backdrop, the food wholesale industry is required to demonstrate its functions to optimize the entire supply chain. By achieving synergies through the said merger, MRG will boost its comprehensive logistics strengths, optimize its inventory, and provide goods and services when consumers need them, with a product assortment, quality, and prices that satisfy them. By leveraging the economies of scale gained through this consolidation, MRG will enhance delivery efficiency and reduce environmental impacts, and by using AI, it will enhance the accuracy of its demand forecasting capabilities in order to reduce food loss. In this manner, the company will contribute to finding solutions to social issues.

Under Mitsui's Medium-term Management Plan 2026, Mitsui has designated "Industrial Business Solutions" as one of its key strategies. The company aims to contribute to improving the quality of the diverse lifestyles of consumers by building a mechanism for stably supplying the resources, materials, and foods that are essential to the development of society, as well as by establishing mobility infrastructure and digital infrastructure that support industries.

Through the establishment of MRG, Mitsui aims to bring together the expertise of the five companies, realize a stable supply of goods and services through logistics optimization, and leverage DX to enhance procurement functions and achieve further sophistication of product development operations, thereby contributing to the realization of richer and brighter lives for people.

Company Profile