Sumitomo Corp., Japan's third-largest trading company, plans to boost its wheat sales in Asia after winning an export permit from Australia, the world's sixth-biggest shipper of the grain.
The company will export Australian wheat to Japan in January for the first time after last month gaining the permit, Hiroyasu Kurosaki, general manager at Sumitomo's Grain & Oils department, said in an interview in Tokyo. The trading house will ship the grain to other Asian markets as it expands its business, he said.
Australia scrapped its monopoly system for wheat exports this year, allowing companies including Louis Dreyfus & Cie. and Marubeni Corp. to make shipments. Sumitomo is the only Japanese trading house to own grain storage and export facilities in the country.