Modern Slavery Statement
Policy Statement
COFCO International UK Ltd is committed to ensuring that there is no modern slavery or human trafficking in our supply chain or in any part of our business. Our core values ensure our commitment to acting ethically and with integrity in all our business relationships and to implementing and enforcing effective systems and controls to safeguard against slavery and human trafficking taking place anywhere in our supply chains.
Our Organisation’s Structure
We are one of the UK’s market leaders in the marketing and distribution of grains, seeds and fertilisers. Our head office is in Ipswich, Suffolk, with other locations in Yorkshire and Wrexham. We own and operate Ipswich Grain Terminal, a leading agribulk handling facility in the Port of Ipswich, and Grainseed, a specialist seed supplier based in Eye, Suffolk
Our Business and supply chains
We supply cereals, oilseeds and proteins to the food, feed and bioenergy industries and we are active at every stage of the grain supply chain. We originate all types of combinable crops from growers and distribute them, via our in-house transport, storage and handling network, to consumers throughout the UK and Europe. We also source, market and distribute to our farmer clients a full range of certified seeds and fertilisers.
The majority of our products are combinable crops, seeds and fertilisers which are predominantly sourced from, and distributed within, the UK and Europe.
The Company has an annual turnover of £300m and employs around 127 members of staff.
Our Policies
In our commitment to act with integrity in all our business dealings, many of our existing policies are relevant to safeguard against slavery or human trafficking in our business or supply chains. Our relevant policies include:
- Code of Conduct Policy
- Concerns Procedure
- Stakeholder Engagement Policy
- Human Rights and Labour Policy
- Supplier Code of Conduct, including commodity-specific Policies
Due Diligence for Slavery and Human Trafficking<
As part of our initiative to identify and mitigate risk
- Where possible we build long standing relationships with local suppliers and customers and make clear our expectations of ethical business behaviour.
- Wherever possible we will use suppliers with an industry quality accreditation.
- Where we use national or international supply chains, our point of contact is preferably with a UK company or branch and we expect these entities to have suitable anti-slavery and human trafficking policies and processes.
- We have systems in place to encourage the reporting of concerns and the safeguarding of whistle-blowers.
Supplier adherence to our Values & Ethics
We have zero tolerance to slavery and human trafficking. We expect all those in our supply chain and contractors to comply with our values and ethics.
The Board are responsible for compliance in their respective departments and their relationships with their suppliers.
Training
To ensure a high level of understanding of the risks of modern slavery and human trafficking in our supply chains and our business, we provide training to all relevant members of staff. All Directors have been briefed on the subject.
This Statement is made pursuant to Section 54(1) of the Modern Slavery Act 2015 and constitutes our slavery and human trafficking statement for the financial year ending 31st December 2018.
