Locating its headquarters in Singapore has enabled Wilmar International to gain excellent access to emerging markets and new product segments, while forging strong partnerships within the city-state’s rich ecosystem of food and agribusiness players.
As Asia’s leading agribusiness group, Wilmar hires about 700 people in Singapore, out of over 90,000 staff globally. Its Singapore team handles all of the company’s international trading activities across the Asia Pacific region, as well as its finance and treasury functions.
Wilmar’s businesses include oil palm cultivation, oilseed crushing, edible oils refining, sugar milling and refining, manufacturing of consumer products, specialty fats, oleochemicals, biodiesel and fertilisers, and flour and rice milling.
To support its activities, Wilmar worked with Republic Polytechnic to develop and build on its Research & Development (R&D) capabilities in the downstream segments of the business.
In 2016, Wilmar committed S$10 million to a joint venture fund under the National Research Foundation (NRF) Early Stage Venture Fund scheme. As Singapore flourishes as an incubator for innovative entrepreneurs and SMEs, Wilmar is looking to invest and work with up-and-coming local start-ups to complement its own business.
It has also forged partnerships in Singapore with various food & agribusiness companies. This includes ADM, which holds a stake in Wilmar, and Japan’s Lion Corporation, which formed a Singapore-incorporated joint venture with Wilmar in 2017.
