TOKYO, Nov 6 (Reuters) - Japanese trading house Itochu ( ITOCF )

on Wednesday posted 438.4 billion yen ($2.9 billion) in net

profit for the six months to end-September, up 6% from a year

earlier, on non-resource items including food and the FamilyMart

convenience store chain.

Itochu ( ITOCF ) kept its net profit forecast for the fiscal year

unchanged at 880 billion yen, of which 24% or 213 billion yen is

projected from food, textiles and the 8th division to where

FamilyMart belongs, overtaking the profit's largest contributor,

the metals and minerals division with a 200 billion yen

forecast.

Over the past couple of years, Japanese trading houses have

been expanding in the retail business, from food to textiles and

convenience stores, as diversified portfolios help them to

mitigate risks from commodity prices fluctuations.

From chicken used in crispy and juicy Famichiki fried

chicken ubiquitous to Itochu ( ITOCF )-run over 16,000 FamilyMart stores

across Japan, the trading house also provides them bananas, eggs

and socks, among other items of daily use.

In the latest push in October, Marubeni ( MARUF ) began

selling salmon from a farm operated near mount Fuji by its

Norwegian partner, adding to the seafood business where its

rivals Mitsubishi ( MSBHF ) and Mitsui ( MITSF ) are also present.

Mitsubishi ( MSBHF ) owns Norway-based Cermaq, one of the world's

leading salmon farmers, and is also exploring salmon land

farming in Japan, while Mitsui ( MITSF ) is a shareholder of the world's

top shrimp farming and processing firms in Ecuador and Vietnam.

Mitsui ( MITSF ) owns a 2% stake in Seven and i Holdings ( SVNDF ),

parent of Japan's top convenience store chain 7-Eleven and a

$47-billion acquisition target of Canada's Alimentation

Couche-Tard ( ANCTF ), and Mitsubishi ( MSBHF ) co-owns third-ranked

Lawson.

Neither Itochu ( ITOCF ), nor Mitsubishi ( MSBHF ) or Mitsui ( MITSF ) are sole suppliers

for convenience store chains they are shareholders of but

around-the-corner stores iconic to Japan help the trading houses

to monetise on their food and apparel businesses.

($1 = 153.9900 yen)