- Business
- Nichirei Corporation engages in food processing, temperature-controlled logistics, marine products, meat and poultry processing, bioscience, and real estate businesses primarily in Japan and internationally. The company manufactures and sells processed foods including frozen cooked meals such as Honkaku-Itame Cha-Han fried rice and Tokukara fried chicken, agricultural processed foods, retort-pouch foods, wellness foods, acerola products, and packed ice; marine products encompassing frozen seafood like shrimp, roe, shellfish, and octopus procured globally; meat and poultry products from cattle, pigs, and poultry; bioscience offerings such as rapid influenza diagnostic kits, cancer diagnostic agents, and cell biotechnology; and provides refrigerated warehousing, transportation, cross-docking, delivery, logistics consulting, facility planning, and ice production services, alongside real estate leasing of office buildings and parking lots. Founded on December 24, 1942, as Teikoku Marine Products Control Company and renamed Nichirei Corporation in February 1985, the company is headquartered at Nichirei Higashi-Ginza Building in Tokyo, Japan, and operates through subsidiaries like Nichirei Foods, Nichirei Fresh, Nichirei Logistics Group, and Nichirei Bioscience, with key markets in North America, Europe, China, Southeast Asia, and Japan. Recent developments include the acquisition of Admark Shipping Solutions Ltd. by its UK subsidiary Thermotraffic Ltd. in May 2024 to enhance maritime cold chain logistics capabilities in the UK; the signing of a share transfer agreement by Nichirei Logistics Group Inc. in October 2025 to acquire ICCL Group, a major Malaysian cold chain operator, with completion scheduled for December 2025 to support the Compass x Growth 2027 medium-term plan; the formulation of a long-term management goal N-FIT 2035; an absorption-type merger among subsidiaries announced in 2025; and plans to integrate procurement-to-sales functions in marine, meat, and poultry businesses by April 2026 to leverage group synergies and expand overseas profitability.