COFCO Int’l Vows Traceability for All Traded Soybeans From Brazil by 2023
COFCO International is the first international crop trader to vow full traceability of all soybeans it buys from farmers in Brazil by 2023 - a pledge intended to lessen environmental damage. This traceability will be verified by a third party, and it is hoped that it will slow deforestation across Brazil.
The global trading arm of China’s largest food company will be tasked with being able to trace soybeans back to specific farms and locations that are not cleared of natural vegetation, according to the group’s annual sustainability report.
The company estimates that it will handle between 6.7 to 7 million tons of soybeans from Brazil in the 2020-21 season, and pledges that it will trace at least 50 percent of this volume this year.
Likewise, Louis Dreyfus claimed that it traced 30 percent of the soybeans it bought from Brazil in 2019, and expects to trace 50 percent this year.
Meanwhile, Cargill, the largest agri-trader, announced it has mapped 100 percent of its soybean supply in Brazil - from the farms where the beans were grown, to intermediaries such as crushers and export terminals - concluding that 96 percent of the soy it sourced from Brazil was grown on land free of deforestation and conversion.
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