Mitsui Group is one of the largest corporate groups in the world with a global presence a multinational focused on pursuing business that range from product sales, worldwide logistics and financing, through to the development of major international infrastructure and other projects. StratLink was retained to carry out research to facilitate strategic investment in the region.

StratLink conducted a macroeconomic overview consisting of the analysis of the general macroeconomic environment in the countries of interest. Assessment of key factors likely to impact food consumption such as inflation trend and population evolution.

Consultative discussions with key stakeholders

Consultations with key stakeholders including agronomists, government agricultural advisors and officials from the ministry of agriculture, Identification of drivers and challenges to economic growth, key trends in food consumption per capita, food spending as a proportion of household spending and changing demographics and how they are likely to impact food demand.

Data sourcing, authentication and historical analysis

StratLink obtained data sets from authoritative sources such as Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO), United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) and ministries of agriculture in respective countries. This enabled comparison and verification of data for consistency. This was succeeded by analysis of trends in production, consumption and imports/ exports by crop for the respective countries.

Policy and tax analysis

This section was informed by both desk research and field interaction with agricultural policy papers and institutions, respectively, such as Alliance for Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) and the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), which helped guide generation of the policy outlook across the countries. StratLink further analyzed tax regimes affecting the crops of interest.

Predictive analysis

StratLink generated predictions of rainfall patterns, consumption and production of various crops using various models including the Autoregressive Integrated Moving Average (ARIMA) and the Coupled Model Inter-comparison Project Phase 5 (CMIP5) Model.