Raisio Becomes First Finnish Company to Purchase Responsible Soy

4 Apr 2013 --- An increasing number of markets are reshaping their soy supply chains, gradually transforming them into responsible certified soy ones. Raisioagro LTD is the latest European feed company to purchase 10,000 responsible soy credits from a Brazilian farmer, which is equivalent to a volume of 10,000 tons of certified soy.

Raisioagro, an RTRS member, is the first Finnish company that has taken this important step towards making soy supply chains more sustainable. Pekka Heikkilä, Business Development Director at Raisioagro claimed that “The sourcing of soy has been discussed for a while in Finland, and we decided it was the right moment to transform our supply chain, as RTRS soy is now fully available and the RTRS system is well established. We also wish to broaden the soy sustainability discussion from being a GMO topic only, the latter having been thoroughly discussed in Finland.”

In 2012, the second operational year of the RTRS certifications, 1,000,000 tons were certified. This year, the RTRS expects to double such number, and by 2015, to certify more than 5,000,000 tons. Agustin Mascotena, the RTRS Executive Director, explains that “we still have a long way to reach a global mainstream status, but we feel we are on the right track. From this year’s annual conference on (May 28th and 29th in Beijing, China), we expect to engage with important Asian countries so as to work together on the global trade of soy; especially with China, which is responsible for more than 50% of the purchasing of soy.”

Raisio’s CEO, Matti Rihko, expects a mainstream responsible soy trade, both in the near and distant future: “We hope responsible certified soy will be available in the future as well. We feel farmer customers and consumers appreciate the soy being produced according to universal criteria. We believe our example also encourages other chain partners in Finland.”

Raisioagro is a modern agritrader and manufacturer of high-quality feed, and has wide expertise in livestock feeding and crop farming. Raisioagro provides producers with a wide range of farming input and is a forerunner as a competent and reliable partner of Finnish farmers.

The Round Table on Responsible Soy Association (RTRS) is a multi-stakeholder initiative which aims to facilitate a global dialogue on soy production that is economically viable, socially equitable and environmentally sound. It provides stakeholders and interested parties – producers, social organizations and business and industry - with the opportunity to jointly develop global solutions leading to responsible soy production. The main goal of the RTRS is to “promote the growth and the use of responsible soy through co-operation with the supply chain and open dialogue between its stakeholders.