As the days grow shorter and the weather grows colder, people begin to change their food preferences, replacing cold dishes with warm soups and summer fruits with winter ones. An all-time winter favourite is the orange; whether eaten as is, used for decoration or to make mulled wine, it is easy to see why this citrus fruitis so well loved. Orange lovers are happy to enjoy this fruit all year round, thanks to the international trade, howeverthis can make the tracking of global supply chain risks more challenging.
Agriplace’s Sustainability Risk Assessment (SRA) tool can help give insights into social, environmental and governmental risks, through information provided by 18 renowned databases. But how exactly does this tool work in practice?
As a demonstration, a practical example of the SRA has been made comparing the potential risks in the supply chain of oranges, depending on where the product is being sourced from.
In order to get data from the SRA, details such as product type, country of origin and quantity, need to be added into the system. Overall, the production of oranges is quite widespread, with the leading producers found in South America, Asia and Europe. The main producer is Brazil with 17,073,593 tons on average each year. China and India follow with 10,583,357 and 9,509,000 tons of oranges produced per year respectively. The top producers in Europe are Spain, Italy and Greece, which are smaller territories but still manage to produce 5,726,160 tons combined yearly. These are the countries and quantities that will be used in the following example, which will outline what data to input, what results will be shown, and how to interpret these, in just a few simple steps.
As soon as the information is entered in the SRA, the system gives an overall risk score for the product, which can then be broken down in the individual risks scores per country.
The ranking is done on a scale from 1, low level of risk, to 10, indicating a high level of risk. In the example above in which countries are ordered by risk level, India is shown to have the highest risk, with a score of 5.4, and Italy the lowest, with a score of 4.0.
To further understand the specific risks that each country presents, the SRA can give additional insights by assigning a risk score to different factors of the social, environmental and governance component.
Through these insights important information is easily accessed by simply viewing the risks scores. In the orange production example, India’s water risk is high, with a score of 6.4. Once adding the sourcing regions in India to the assessment, the water risk will be displayed on a regional level as well. High risks scores can also be found for climate change vulnerability, soil degradation, biodiversity, freedom of association and employee’s working hours.
Based on the results of the analysis, it is then possible to request additional evidence documents (e.g., certificates) in the Supply Chain Approval platform. These tools work together to assure the safest and most transparent supply chain possible, taking important steps towards more sustainable production and trade.
So, there you have it: just as oranges can help bring colour and flavour to your Christmas holidays, Agriplace can help manage all different colours of seasonal trading risks and struggles.
If you would like to learn more about how the SRA can help assess the risk of all your products, not just oranges, please reach out to request a demo or free trial account.
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