TOKYO/GENEVA -- Ending a decades-old partnership, Yamazaki Baking will cease production of Oreos, Ritz and two other iconic Nabisco brands in Japan -- the outcome of a strategy shift in an industry marked by frequent mergers and realignments.
The company announced Friday that the licensing contract with current U.S. brand owner Mondelez International will end at the end of August. Subsidiary Yamazaki-Nabisco, which will change its name Sept. 1, will end manufacture of the snack foods by the end of August and stop sales by the end of November. Mondelez's Japanese unit will take over sales starting in September.
