Key objectives for 2022–2025
- We continue to develop the responsibility of our entire supply chain by assessing the human rights impacts of the supply chain and minimising the risks.
- We minimise the negative environmental and climate impacts of our raw materials.
- We nurture and promote biodiversity in cooperation with our suppliers and stakeholders.
We are part of the food chain
For us, it is essential to commit our supply chain to the Raisio Supplier Code of Conduct and to ensure the procurement responsibility. Our own operations cover only a small part of the value chain, so operational responsibility risks are particularly related to the supply chain.
By the end of 2021, 99.8% of the value of all direct procurements was procured from suppliers who have committed in writing to Raisio Supplier Code of Conduct or whose own ethical principles have been approved by us.
Raisio Supplier Code of Conduct
Our products are made of sustainably sourced raw materials
The vast majority, 94 per cent, of the raw materials used in our products are plant-based. Grains − such as oat, wheat and rye − account for 88 per cent of our raw materials. 97% of the grain we use in our food production is Finnish.
Finnish grain farms are traditionally family farms that use very little outside labour, so the human rights risks for our main raw materials are low. Durum wheat used in pasta products and small amounts of special wheat are farmed outside Finland.
Some raw materials are only available from higher-risk countries. In these cases, we pay special attention to the supplier’s procedures and certifications. All soy used by us has been responsibility-certified since 2014 and palm oil since 2015. The cocoa and chocolate we used in 2022 were almost entirely Rainforest Alliance certified: certified cocoa and chocolate accounted for 99 per cent. However, these three raw materials account for a relatively small proportion of the total raw materials we use: soy accounts for 0.2% of our total raw materials, palm oil for 0.2% and cocoa and chocolate for 0.1%.
We aim to reduce the number of products containing palm oil
In 2019, we began to modify the recipes for Elovena® snack biscuits to allow the use of palm oil to be eliminated.
As a result, the margarine containing palm oil is now replaced by rapeseed oil in all standard Elovena® snack biscuits. Rapeseed oil is healthier because of the quality of fat, and it is also a more responsible alternative.
In Raisio’s products, palm oil is mainly used in spreads. As for spreads, no alternative to palm oil has been found with similar quality characteristics − so our work continues.
The supply chain of
our grain is short
We procure grains directly from contract farms in southwest Finland and Pirkanmaa, and the grain is delivered to our production directly from the farmers’ grain warehouses without interim storage. For our key raw materials, the transport distance is less than 100 kilometres.
Farmers are important partners for us, and we aim to further develop our cooperation. One of the future measures we plan to take is to encourage our contract farmers to adopt farming practices that will increase yield security. Our farmers see that further improvement is necessary in the growing conditions of fields and, thereby, carbon sequestration.
Training contract farmers to keep their fields healthy
In cooperation with Baltic Sea Action Group (BSAG), we organised a ‘Kasvu kuntoon’ training course for our contract farmers. The training course included two webinars and one field day.
The webinars covered topics such as factors affecting soil health, tools for farmers to assess the health of their field parcels and suggestions for measures to improve soil health, as well as information on what impairs the structure and health of the soil. The field day included a tour of a long standing no-till field in Loimaa and a look at varied crop rotation in practice. Around 40 farmers took part in the training course.
