Our cocoa, coffee, dairy, nut and spice ingredients are heaped with sensory and functional features – while we’re also able to offer product that is traceable, sustainable and transparent. As food ingredients company you can develop winning consumer products in bakery, beverages, dairy, culinary, savory, snacking and sports nutrition categories with ease, scale and integrity.
We’re a super specialist in all things cocoa – beans, powders, butters and beyond. In fact, we are the number one cocoa bean supplier globally with a leading presence in 10 key producing countries across Africa, Asia and South America. In our direct sourcing, our traceability from the farm to the factory allows us to drive sustainable practises across the cocoa supply chain.
Find out more about our cocoa ingredients offer.
A leading global supplier of green coffee, with a significant specialty and soluble coffee offer, ensures we’re buzzing with know-how. Our year-round presence in 18 major origins means we can offer you the responsible, traceable supply consumers want – and the rare roasts you need to differentiate your brand.
Find out more about our coffee ingredients offer.
Packed with natural goodness, fewer food groups bring more joy to people’s lives. It’s there in a cup of tea, slice of cheese, or spoonful of cream. Whether it’s a specific beverage blend or an exacting protein isolate or concentrate, we can help you deliver the tastes, textures and nutrition people love.
Find out more about our dairy ingredients offer.
We’re one of the world’s leading suppliers with integrated supply chains across six continents. Almonds to brazils, macadamias to pistachios – just name your nut. The natural and nutritional goodness makes them top of the list for consumers.
Find out more about our nuts ingredients offer.
We’re one of the world largest global suppliers of spices and herbs, sourcing from all the primary growing regions and offering everything from onion, garlic and chiles to pepper, parsley and tropical spices. Provenance, taste, quality, color and texture. There is not a lot we don’t know about spices and the important role their attributes play in our favourite foods.
Find out more about our spices ingredients offer.
This is how ofi as food ingredients wholesale delivers value to customers. We co-create to delight consumers, grow your business, and create real change for people and planet. We make this happen by offering fresh ideas, ingredients & solutions that are…
We are privileged to carry with us the 30-year legacy and rich heritage of Olam, and that DNA of ambition and growth will continue to drive us in the future as a food ingredients company.
Olam International began back in 1989 by exporting raw cashews from Nigeria to India. Then came cocoa in 1992, followed by coffee in 1996, spices in 2002, and dairy in 2005. Olam continued to grow, investing in the breadth and depth of its portfolio and establishing global leaders for each business.
In January 2020, Olam reorganized into three groups: Olam Group and two operating groups: Olam Agri and olam food ingredients (ofi). ofi operates in 49 countries serving over 8,000 valued customers globally, leveraging its complementary and differentiated portfolio of ‘on-trend’ food products, to co-create solutions that meet changing consumer preferences.
Sourcing nuts, cocoa beans, coffee spices and dairy ingredients at scale is just the start. Our focus is on innovating in all areas of supply chains and taking care of our ingredients from plant to palate. Whether it’s introducing digital tech to improve traceability and reliability of supply, or helping spot trends and responding to them with new plant-based tastes and textures.
Sustainability’s been a big part of Olam’s identity since the start, supporting both the Millennium Development Goals and the Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations Development Program. Much of this has been driven through award-winning farmer livelihood support programs. In 2018, this commitment was taken further with AtSource, the revolutionary sustainability insights platform.
ofi (olam food ingredients), a global leader in naturally good food and beverage ingredients, says developments in data and technology – from granular deforestation mapping and child labor monitoring to AI-powered carbon measurement tools – are accelerating progress towards its Cocoa Compass sustainability ambition. It is also providing food and beverage companies with enhanced traceability and transparency ahead of new regulations in Europe and beyond.
The latest Cocoa Compass highlights based on 2022 data include:
United States Agency for International Development (USAID), Indonesia Mission Director, Jeff Cohen, said: "We are proud to be working together with ofi and the Hershey Company to encourage cocoa farmers to adopt more sustainable agriculture practices—like diversifying their crops and allowing more trees to remain on their land—which will strengthen their resilience against climate shocks and improve their livelihoods[3].”
How do you differentiate between the environmental impacts of organizations across different geographies, local conditions, products, local regulations etc.?
For several years, ofi has been working towards assessing the true value (cost or benefits) of some of our operations on the ground. Our latest case study on Natural Capital Valuation: Assessing Natural Capital costs in coffee operations, delves into year-on-year monetary impact of our select coffee growing operations in five origins.
Globally, an estimated 12.5 million to 25 million smallholder farmers depend on the coffee industry for their livelihoods, according to figures from Fairtrade1 and the FAO2. However, the majority of these farmers face significant challenges including limited access to formal agronomy training, inadequate resources, small farm sizes and insecure land tenure. These factors often hinder the adoption of sustainable agricultural practices, which are crucial for preserving Natural Capital over the medium and long term. As a result, coffee production often imposes a cost on nature in the form of GHG emissions, degradation of soil structure and fertility, depletion of ground and surface water, and loss of natural ecosystem services critical to agricultural production.
To address these challenges, we employ Natural Capital valuation techniques, which leverage environmental economics to assign a monetary value (US$) to our impacts and dependencies, encompassing carbon emissions, water usage and ecosystem services. Quantifying Natural Capital in this way enables us to assess and mitigate risks while fostering investments that promote a positive impact on landscapes and ecosystem.
We evaluated twenty AtSource+ coffee farmer groups sourced from five different origins3 to assess their GHG emissions and water use related Natural Capital Costs (NCC). Reporting on the NCC is based on each metric tonne of product which makes the cost intensities very sensitive/ dependent on farm level yields. Thus, understanding the underlying yield dynamics is also crucial for interpreting these NCC footprints effectively.
The combined expertise of our local sustainability teams with partners such as Funcafé, TechnoServe, Côte d’Ivoire's National Nutrition program, USAID (United States Agency for International Development), and Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN) delivers solutions to improve access to clean water, healthcare services and supplies, and nutritious food.
Initiatives range from using geo-location to identify and screen for infant malnutrition in farming communities in Côte d'Ivoire - where one in five children experience stunted growth and development - to fortifying key staples with vitamins and minerals in our processing facilities.