Our strategy

Our strategy

At Corbion, sustainability is at the heart of what we do. We are very well positioned to benefit from the worldwide drive for more sustainable products and solutions.

We have aligned our Advance 2025 strategy to the United Nations Sustainable Developments Goals (SDGs) with SDG 2 Zero hunger, SDG 3 Good health and well-being, and SDG 12 Responsible consumption and production being the goals where Corbion can have the most impact.

Our business and reporting structure will have three units from now on:

Sustainable Food Solutions

In food, Corbion has developed increasingly from an ingredients business into a solutions business. We plan to expand on this solutions model with natural food preservation and functional systems as our core capabilities, enabling us to accelerate growth in close adjacencies.

Supported by an industry that is rapidly moving towards clean label/natural food solutions, we will leverage our strengths in preservation. Sustainable Food Solutions consist of three segments: Preservation, Functional systems, and Single Ingredients. In the Preservation segment, we intend to expand our (natural) preservation solutions from meat into other markets. In the Functional systems segment, we will focus on natural/clean label solutions in bakery and other markets. Both segments could be supported by bolt-on M&A. Emulsifiers will have a declining strategic fit going forward and will be managed for value. Other non-core activities such as co-packing blending, and frozen dough will be exited.

Lactic Acid & Specialties

In our lactic acid business, we aim to capitalize on our market and technology leadership. To further strengthen this leadership position in an attractive growth market, we have decided to build a new lactic acid plant at the existing Corbion site in Rayong Province in Thailand. As PLA is developing better than expected, the urgency behind expanding our lactic acid production capacity has only increased.  We will capitalize on our global product leadership in lactic acid and lactic acid derivatives. Corbion leads the lactic acid market in technology, production capacity, geographic coverage, and breadth of portfolio. Lactic Acid & Specialties will consist of 5 segments: Lactic acid (including for PLA), lactates, lactate esters, biopolymers, and other. Lactic acid serving the PLA market is already driving substantial investments in our lactic acid infrastructure. By 2023 we expect to open a new 125kTpa lactic acid plant in Thailand, operating at the highest sustainability standards and lowest costs. The additional lactic acid capacity also shows our commitment to continue to support future growth of the TotalEnergies Corbion joint venture.

Incubator

In our Incubator, where we develop early stage initiatives, we plan to bring omega-3 DHA to profitability in 2022, while we stay committed to investing in initiatives with a longer time horizon.

Our two main product categories are: Algae-based omega-3, starting with fish feed applications, and our new co-polymer platform. This platform is a lactic acid-based controlled-release co-polymer technology, expanding on our (medical) polymer expertise.