Securing the supply of precious natural ingredients

Just as we engage the senses with our creations, we build close relationships with local producers around the world and work in partnership to secure the long-term future of the crops and raw materials on which we all depend.

From the misty forests of Madagascar to the sunburnt slopes of Andalusia, Givaudan’s field teams and partners journey to the remote places of the world to source a wide variety of precious natural ingredients for our flavours and fragrances creations that touch people’s lives.

The key to our continued success in securing the long-term supply of these often fragile crops are the close working relationships we establish with the very people who grow, collect and distil our raw materials.

Through direct collection networks and partnerships, forged on trust and the principle of shared success, we work together with the local producers to improve the quality and quantity of the oils and spices we need.

Our buyers and partners regularly visit the smallholder producers and village associations and take the time to get to know them and their families. Our primary objective is to secure supply while building trust into our sourcing relationships; from this position we are also able to offer technical advice and listen to producers who might raise their own concerns, confident that we will work with them to find mutually beneficial improvements in the way we source.

“If a collection network succeeds, it is mainly because of the strong human relationships that Givaudan nurtures with its local producers at the point of origin.”

Renaud, General Manager Givaudan Madagascar

We also support the wider local economies by promoting the processing of raw materials in the country of origin. As in the case of our NATEMA plant in Madagascar, rather than export clove leaf oil for processing elsewhere, we are fostering local value creation by transforming the oil at a new facility that opened on the island in 2016.

This makes our activities as a whole more transparent. Our strong presence on the ground gives us a clear view of the supply chain, which helps us to make it more efficient, and to tell our customers where our ingredients come from and how they are produced. This enhanced transparency and traceability is a key sustainability benefit of our approach.