Cosun Beet Company 100% owner of Limako trading company
Cosun Beet Company became the sole owner of the international sugar trading company Limako bv in May 2021. It acquired the remaining 49% of shares from ED&F Man, the one of the world’s biggest white sugar trader. Limako provides CBC maximum import-export flexibility and access to new business opportunities that have arisen since the abolishment of the EU sugar quota.
Limako was established in 1968 as a joint venture with ED&F Man to export European surplus sugar to the world market. It has added more activities to its portfolio in recent years, such as importing sugar from the world market.
“We have developed from an EU exporter into a dynamic international trading company, with the knowledge and experience necessary to respond quickly to global market developments and crop developments ,” explains managing director Daniël Kerkhof. “We have access to high quality and strategic sales markets outside the EU to absorb big swings in volume in Europe. And if the market is tight we can import sugar from the world market. Over the year we have evolved into a specialist in international container logistics, supplying sugar- just in time- to our customers across the globe. We also translate market developments and prices movements into concrete options for our partners and advise them on how to hedge price risks.”
Own course
“Our wish to become the sole owner of Limako reflects our ambition to become an international operator,” says Paul Mesters, CEO of Cosun Beet Company. “We want to be free to sail our own course on the world market in accordance with our strategy and vision, with Limako at the helm. Sole ownership puts us in a better position to bring our ideas to full fruition. Limako will continue to operate as an autonomous and independent trading company and ED&F Man will remain a valued international business partner for both Limako and Cosun Beet Company. To this end, we have concluded a new cooperation agreement.”