The company already has a sales office in Tokyo, handling strong demand for its zero-calorie sweetener erythritol, but rising interest in this and other high value sweeteners in surrounding markets has led it make additional investment in China and Singapore.
New regional manager for sweetness solutions Paul Vrijhof says the move is about building a greater brand equity in Asia-Pacific.
"We have not been a leader in this region so we need to learn quickly and act quickly too," he told AP-Foodtechnology.com.
"Our product image and brand names aren't big here and yet we have the widest range of polyols in the market," said Vrijhof.
Bringing more Cargill faces to the region - specifically Shanghai and Singapore, locations of the new offices - will increase customer confidence as well as reducing lead times, he believes.
The group has also gained some new application capabilities with the acquisition of Degussa's food ingredients business earlier this year.
The German firm already had two applications labs in the area, one in Shanghai and the other in Singapore.
This will be important if Cargill wants to up sales of expensive sweeteners like erythritol and isomaltulose, a slowly digestible sugar, in cost-conscious markets like China.
But there are signs of its potential, with some health food firms in the booming market using serious volumes, according to Vrijhof.
"The Chinese are now producing it themselves which shows that they see potential in this product," he added.
The Degussa acquisition will have further benefits for the whole Cargill group in Asia, by adding cultures and additional hydrocolloids.
Degussa gives Cargill's expanding ingredients business a range unrivalled even by Danisco.
One of its first new concepts based on a Degussa product was presented at Fi-Asia this week - a functional dairy drink containing Degussa's collagen hydrolysate, Arthred.
It is expected to appeal to Asian consumers, already used to seeing cosmeceutical ingredients in food and drink.