The Business Impact of Sustainable Programs
To provide traceability and assurance of good practices, leading brands are increasingly demanding certified products, using independent third-party standards such as the Rainforest Alliance, UTZ Certified, 4C, AAA and C.A.F.E Practices to validate their product. In reality, certification is only the first step on the improvement ladder and serves as a common language to communicate value and values throughout the supply chain.
Ecom Coffee Sales 2011
Ecom’s coffee division recognized this trend as an opportunity in the early 2000’s and in the past decade has developed formidable capacities to support farmers to achieve certification and improve farm productivity and product quality. Ecom has developed Sustainable Management Services agronomy divisions within its local operating companies. An estimated 180 agronomists are now employed and providing services to farmers around the world.
The impact and influence of this trend at Ecom is underlined by the numbers:
- Certified coffee leader
- Sales of certified coffee up 4% in 2011 (7th consecutive year of growth)
- Certified coffee 14 % of total coffee sales (13% 2010, 15% 2009)
- Market share 18% of sustainable market
- An estimated >50% of all coffee purchasing “touched” by certification (that is, purchased from certified suppliers)
Ecom Coffee Market Share of each Sustainable Certificate 2011
Despite continued growth in competition within the Sustainable area, Ecom has 15-20% market share od the mainstream sustainable certified/verified volumes.
In cocoa, the trend towards traceability and certification started later, and the challenges facing West African cocoa farmers are perhaps even greater than in coffee. In Ivory Coast, Ecom’s local operating company Zamacom set up an agronomy division “Akwacao” (“Welcome Cocoa”) in 2009, mirroring Ecom’s coffee agronomy models. Akwacao now employs 40 agronomists, technicians and system administrators. In 2011, Akwacao reached more than 7,000 farmers with training and subsequently nearly 15% of Zamacom’s cocoa exports from the Ivory Coast were certified to the UTZ Certified and Rainforest Alliance standards.
In cotton, Ecom joined with leading cotton textile and fashion brands, manufacturers, NGOs and farmer organizations to form the Better Cotton Initiative in 2009. Since then, Ecom has served on its governing council and executive board and until the end of 2011 was the only participating cotton merchant. Ecom traded the first bales of Better Cotton from Mali, Brazil and India in 2011. While there is a long way to go before sustainable cotton is widely available and tradable, the Better Cotton Initiative has served as a platform to enable new relationships by bringing together the participants of a traditionally long and opaque supply chain.
Contact the Sustainability Unit
Ecom Agroindustrial Corporation Ltd.
Av. Etienne Guillemin 16
P.O. Box 64
CH-1009 Pully
Switzerland
Tel. +41 21 721 7210
Sustainability Overview 2011
