⚠ Grain Trading Earns LittleModerate threat

Marubeni (8002) — threat to the moat

The global grain merchants got bigger in 2025 and Marubeni's American export business made a loss.

The exporting end of the grain chain is where Marubeni competes with the global merchants, and it is not profitable at the moment. Columbia Grain International moved from ¥1.8 billion of profit to a loss of ¥0.3 billion in the year to March 20261.

Grain trading, 2025-26Columbia Grain, year to Mar 2026loss of ¥0.3bnColumbia Grain, year to Mar 2025profit of ¥1.8bnBunge-Viterra mergercompleted 2 July 2025Marubeni IR presentation; Bunge release
A small loss in Marubeni's grain exporting while its competitors consolidated.

The global grain merchants are also getting larger: Bunge completed its merger with Viterra in July 20252, putting the business that bought Gavilon's grain operations inside one of the largest traders in the world.

The Food & Agri segment's own explanation of its year listed Creekstone and Columbia Grain International as the two negatives3. Both are American, both are in commodity businesses where Marubeni competes with the global merchants, and both lost money while the Japanese processing end improved.

The measure is whether Columbia Grain returns to profit. Two loss years would argue for doing to it what was done to Gavilon.

References
  1. ReportedColumbia Grain International moved from ¥1.8 billion of profit to a loss of ¥0.3 billion in the year to March 2026.
    Marubeni Corporation, full-year IR presentation for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2026 - net profit of major group companies by segment, with ownership and business descriptions. — FY to March 2026 · publ. 1 May 2026 · source ↗
  2. ReportedThe global grain merchants are also getting larger: Bunge completed its merger with Viterra in July 2025, putting the business that bought Gavilon's grain operations inside one of the largest traders in the world.
    Bunge Global SA press release, 'Bunge and Viterra Complete Merger to Create Premier Global Agribusiness Solutions Company', 2 July 2025. — July 2025 · publ. 2 July 2025 · source ↗
  3. ReportedThe Food & Agri segment's own explanation of its year listed Creekstone and Columbia Grain International as the two negatives.
    Marubeni Corporation, full-year IR presentation for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2026 - net profit of major group companies by segment, with ownership and business descriptions. — FY to March 2026 · publ. 1 May 2026 · source ↗
Sources
Generated September 24, 2026