What COFCO International does

COFCO International is a privately held global agricultural commodities trader and processor headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, operating as the overseas agriculture platform of Chinese state-owned COFCO Corporation. The company buys, sells, processes, and distributes grains, oilseeds, sugar, coffee, cotton, and freight services to enterprise customers across 35 countries, with a 2025 reported revenue of US$34.5 billion and 100.4 million metric tonnes in sales volume through a workforce of 12,918. Its core product lines are Grains and Oilseeds (corn, wheat, barley, sorghum, soybeans, sunflower, rapeseed, palm oil), Sugar (four mills in São Paulo covering 189,000 hectares of sugarcane), Coffee (arabica and robusta from Brazil, Colombia, Indonesia, and Vietnam), Cotton (from a Memphis-headquartered operation), and Freight Services, supported by 200 vessels and 41.3 million tonnes of cargo handled in 2024.

The platform integrates origination, processing, storage, trading, and maritime distribution across six continents, with 65% of global grains and oilseeds assets concentrated in South America and 36 million tonnes of port capacity and 29 million tonnes of processing capacity globally. Technology assets include satellite-based farm-level traceability, the proprietary COFCO Responsible Agriculture Standard (benchmark-aligned with FEFAC 2023 and accepted under ASC Feed Standard), and supply chain traceability systems covering direct and indirect suppliers of soy, corn, and palm oil — achieving 99% deforestation- and conversion-free verification of Brazilian soy in 2024.

The business model is primarily transactional: revenue is generated through margins on commodity trades, processing output (soybean crushing in Brazil and South Africa, palm oil refining in India, sugar milling and ethanol), and freight chartering, supplemented by sustainability-linked financing arrangements exceeding US$1 billion in cumulative volume. Pricing is market-driven and quote-based, with sustainability premiums available on certified volumes. Customer segments include the Chinese feed sector, Asian dairy and animal feed manufacturers, multinational coffee roasters, textile mills, biofuel producers, and shipping customers, with go-to-market executed via direct trading desks in Geneva, Singapore, and other regional offices across the Americas, Europe, Africa, and Asia-Pacific.

Name

COFCO International

Legal name

COFCO International

Website

https://cofcointernational.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2014

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

5,001–10,000 employees

Short description

COFCO International is a Geneva-headquartered global agri-commodity trader and processor, owned by China's COFCO Corporation, sourcing, shipping, and distributing grains, oilseeds, sugar, coffee, and cotton to enterprise customers across 35 countries with $34.5 billion in 2025 revenue.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Agricultural Commodities

NAICS

Grain and Field Bean Merchant Wholesalers (424510), Soybean and Other Oilseed Processing (311224), Grain and Oilseed Milling (3112)

SIC

Commodity Contracts Brokers & Dealers (6221), Grain Mill Products (2040)

akta.pro primary industry

Import/Export & Cross-Border Food Commodity Trading (AFAIAKAL)

akta.pro secondary industries

Agricultural Bulk Commodities Transport (Grain/Oilseeds/Feed) (TLADAKAD), Couscous, Bulgur & Other Processed Grain Foods Manufacturing (AFAKABAJ)

Keywords

• Agricultural commodities trading
• Grains and oilseeds
• Sugar and ethanol milling
• Maritime freight logistics
• Sustainable sourcing certification

Headquarters

HQ city

Geneva

HQ country

Switzerland

HQ region

Europe

Offices33 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Hardware or Manufacturing

Cost components

Supply Chain, Operations, Infrastructure, Personnel, Technology or R&D

Revenue model

1. Commodity Trading and Merchandising: COFCO International trades agricultural commodities globally, buying, selling, processing and distributing grains, oilseeds, sugar, coffee, cotton and freight services. Revenue is generated through margins on commodity transactions across global markets.
2. Processing and Industrial Operations: Processing and refining agricultural products including soybean crushing at plants in Rondonópolis, Brazil and Standerton, South Africa, producing soy meal, soy oil and biodiesel. Sugar milling operations in Brazil producing sugar and ethanol. Palm oil refining at Kandla, India.
3. Freight and Maritime Services: Worldwide maritime logistics operations with 200 vessels on water at any given time, handling 41.3 million tonnes of cargo in 2024. Revenue from freight chartering and proprietary trading operations, plus providing logistics solutions to third parties.
4. Sustainable/Sustainability-Linked Financing: Company has secured over $1 billion in sustainability-linked loans with SBTi-linked financing, where interest rates are tied to achieving quantifiable sustainability targets including emissions reductions and certified sourcing volumes.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

COFCO International buys, sells, processes and distributes agricultural commodities worldwide, including grains and oilseeds (soybeans, corn, wheat, barley, sorghum, sunflower, rapeseed, palm oil), sugar and ethanol from Brazilian mills, coffee, cotton, and supporting maritime freight services to enterprise customers across 35 countries. It also offers sustainability-certified sourcing programs, notably the proprietary COFCO Responsible Agriculture Standard for deforestation- and conversion-free grains and oilseeds.

Product overview

COFCO International is a global agricultural commodities trading and processing company operating as a multi-product platform. Core products include Grains & Oilseeds (soybeans, corn, wheat, barley, rapeseed, sunflower, palm oil), Sugar (with four Brazilian sugar mills producing sugar and ethanol), Coffee (arabica and robusta from Brazil, Colombia, Indonesia, Vietnam), Cotton (trading from US headquarters), and Freight Services (maritime logistics and chartering). The company also operates proprietary certification programs including the COFCO Responsible Agriculture Standard for grains and the Coffee Responsible Origin Programme. With 12,000+ employees across 35 countries and $34.5bn revenue, the company trades with over 50 nations, leveraging assets across six continents with 65% of grains and oilseeds assets in South America.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Grains & Oilseeds Core business segment sourcing and trading corn, wheat, barley, sorghum, soybeans, sunflower, rapeseed, and palm oil for feed, food and biofuel markets.
• Soybean Soybean sourcing, crushing and processing into soy meal, soy oil and biodiesel at facilities in Brazil (Rondonópolis) and South Africa (Standerton).
• Sugar Sourcing, processing, trading and distribution of raw sugar and white sugar, with four sugar mills in Brazil managing 189,000 hectares of sugarcane plantations producing sugar and ethanol.
• Coffee Global coffee merchant providing arabica and robusta beans from Brazil, Colombia, Indonesia and Vietnam, with processing and storage facilities serving multinational roasters.
• Cotton Cotton trading operations headquartered in Memphis, Tennessee, buying cotton bales from ginners and farmers for sale to textile mills, with warehouses in the US and Turkey.
• Freight Services Worldwide maritime logistics and freight chartering operations managing a fleet of third-party vessels for dry bulk shipping of agricultural commodities.
• COFCO Responsible Agriculture Standard Proprietary sustainability certification program applicable to soybean, corn and soybean products with two modules: Deforestation- and Conversion-Free (DCF) verification using farm-level traceability and satellite image assessments, and on-farm third-party audits.
• Coffee Responsible Origin Programme COFCO's proprietary coffee sustainability certification program engaging with farms in Brazil to promote responsible coffee production.

Quantifiable outcome

• 46% increase in volume of certified sustainable grains and oilseeds sourced in South America
• +4 more outcomes

Named customers4 records

Segments7 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature3 records

Partnerships

15 partnerships are on record, tiered strategic, core and minor.

• Patria InvestmentsstrategicStrategic or Co-development Partner · 17 June 2026COFCO and Patria Investments agreed to explore sustainable agriculture collaboration in Brazil, focusing on potential joint initiatives for sustainable agricultural development.
• ThanakornstrategicStrategic or Co-development Partner · 9 June 2026COFCO and Thanakorn agreed to expand sustainable soy trade, strengthening their partnership in sustainable agricultural commodity sourcing.
• CHS Inc.coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 9 January 2026CHS Inc. operates the Cahokia transloading terminal near St. Louis, owned by COFCO International, starting January 31, 2026. The terminal is a key high-speed rail and truck-to-barge loading facility along the Mississippi River and is part of CHS's Midwest grain network.
• COSCO ShippingstrategicStrategic or Co-development Partner · 2 January 2026COSCO Shipping developing Port of Chancay in Peru, South America's first smart and green port, at an investment of at least $3.5 billion. This infrastructure development supports Latin American agricultural trade flows.
• Agriculture Sector Roadmap to 1.5°CcoreOthersCOFCO International committed alongside eleven major agri-commodity companies to define a shared roadmap for enhanced supply chain action consistent with a 1.5°C pathway by COP27.
• World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) - Soft Commodities ForumcoreOthersCOFCO partners with sector peers through WBCSD's Soft Commodities Forum to collectively monitor progress on transparent and traceable soy sourcing in Brazil's Cerrado biome.
• Getting to Zero CoalitionminorOthersCOFCO International is a member of the Getting to Zero Coalition, committed to decarbonizing the shipping sector by bringing commercially viable zero-emission vessels into operation by 2030.
• Sea Cargo CharterminorOthersCOFCO joined the IMO-led Sea Cargo Charter to support creation of a global framework for consistent reporting of shipping emissions and support sector decarbonisation.
• Tropical Forest Alliance (TFA)minorOthersCOFCO is a TFA Steering Committee member, joining other members in supporting multi-stakeholder efforts towards ending deforestation in agricultural supply chains.
• UN Global CompactminorOthersCOFCO International is a signatory to the UN Global Compact, which unites businesses in respecting principles on human rights, labour, environment and anti-corruption.
• Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO)minorOthersCOFCO is a member of RSPO, a not-for-profit organization that develops global standards for sustainable palm oil.
• Round Table on Responsible Soy (RTRS)minorOthersCOFCO is a member of RTRS, a civil organization promoting responsible production, processing and trading of soy globally.
• Better Cotton Initiative (BCI)minorOthersCOFCO is a member of BCI, a key multi-stakeholder initiative to make sustainable cotton the norm.
• Cotton made in AfricaminorOthersCOFCO is a member of Cotton made in Africa, an initiative that improves living conditions of cotton farmers in Sub-Saharan Africa while promoting environmental protection.
• ProforestminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerWith support from Proforest, COFCO is building a clearer understanding of the environmental and social profile of its palm oil supply chain and defining actions to mitigate supply chain risks.

Scale indicators21 records

Recent moves13 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Cargill: The world's largest privately held agricultural commodity trader and processor. Directly comparable to COFCO International in grains, oilseeds, sugar, cotton, and animal nutrition origination, processing, and global trading at multi-billion-tonne scale.
• Wilmar International: Asia's largest agribusiness, leading processor and merchandiser of palm oil and oilseeds with deep Chinese market access. Comparable to COFCO International in palm oil refining (Kandla, India), oilseed processing, and Asian food/feed distribution.
• Glencore Agriculture (Viterra): One of the world's largest agricultural commodity merchants operating across grains, oilseeds, sugar and cotton with integrated port and processing assets. Direct peer in global origination, marketing and distribution of soft commodities at multi-continent scale.
• Olam Agri: Major global agricultural commodity merchant operating in grains, oilseeds, rice, cotton and coffee across more than 30 origins and 60 destinations. Directly comparable global origination, processing and trading footprint, particularly in soft commodities and emerging-market distribution.
• Archer Daniels Midland (ADM): Publicly traded global agribusiness with directly overlapping grains, oilseeds and corn processing operations in South America and worldwide. Closely comparable origination footprint, crush capacity, and downstream feed/biofuel exposure.
• Bunge Global: Global agribusiness and food company with leading positions in oilseed processing and grain origination in the Americas. Highly comparable to COFCO International's soybean crushing footprint in Brazil and Argentina and its global grains merchandising business.
• Louis Dreyfus Company: Privately held global merchant of grains, oilseeds, sugar, coffee and cotton with a comparable end-to-end origination-to-destination model. Similar integrated asset footprint across origination, processing, logistics and freight, making it one of the closest structural comps.

Broad incumbents

• Marubeni Corporation: Japanese sogo shosha with a sizable agri-food and grain trading business (including former Gavilon assets) operating across grains, oilseeds and feed ingredients. Overlaps with COFCO International in global origination, merchandising and Asian distribution.
• COFCO Corporation: The parent conglomerate and China's largest food and agriculture company. While COFCO International is its overseas platform, the broader group overlaps in grains, oilseeds, sugar, coffee and food processing across China and globally, making it a key structural benchmark and counterparty.
• ITOCHU Corporation: Japanese general trading company with substantial agricultural commodity operations including grains, oilseeds and feed ingredients through subsidiaries. Comparable as a diversified global merchant with significant Asia-Pacific end-market exposure.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/COFCOINTL
• Facebookfacebook.com/cofcointernational
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/cofcointernational
• Instagraminstagram.com/cofcointl

Compliance8 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles12 records

Subsidiaries2 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds1 record

Investors1 record

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about COFCO International