Fazer continues to use only domestic grain in its consumer products despite the significant price increases
The availability challenges of grain, packaging materials and energy and the resulting price pressures have increased dramatically following the war in Ukraine. Despite the significant increase in the raw material prices, Fazer continues to honour its commitment to use only domestic grain in its consumer products. For Fazer, using domestic grain is also a way to support sustainable farming.
Domestic food is critically important in the sense of the security of supply, and its importance is increasing in the destabilised geopolitical situation. Finland’s self-sufficiency is among the highest in the world, at 80% (1.
“It is crucial that the entire food production chain remains viable. To ensure the security of supply, the entire value chain must be able to operate profitably. To survive the crisis in the food industry, tight cooperation and efforts are required from all parties,” says Lara Saulo, Head of Fazer Bakery Business Area.
“The rise in costs caused by the crisis will unfortunately affect everyone, from producers and the industry through to trade and the consumers. We can all help securing the viability of the food production chain by choosing domestic products,” Saulo adds.
Despite the significant increase in prices, Fazer will continue to use only Finnish grain in its consumer products.
“Due to the ongoing crisis, we have renegotiated the existing producer agreements in terms of pricing. The prices we’re paying the producers are considerably higher: we’re now paying twice what we were paying for wheat and oat in the previous season,” says Jarkko Arrajoki, Managing Director for Fazer Mills Finland.
For Fazer, using Finnish grain is also a way of caring for the environment. Fazer has worked consistently towards sustainable farming for nearly ten years since the company signed its first Baltic Sea Commitment.
“We call this work Fazer’s Grain Vision. This vision is our tool for ensuring that the grain we use is produced sustainably. Our key goals are to help prevent the eutrophication of water bodies, protect biodiversity, reduce the use of plant protection chemicals, and bind carbon to the soil. Our ambition is to establish the principles of sustainable farming as defined in Fazer’s Grain Vision as the minimum standard in all Finnish production,” Arrajoki says.
Fazer is developing its Grain Vision through active cooperation with Finnish farmers. The vision is for all the grain used in Fazer’s Finnish and Swedish consumer products to comply with the principles of sustainable development by 2025.
(1 Ruokatieto: https://www.ruokatieto.fi/sites/tietohaarukka-2021/index.html#/article/1/page/1
Further information:
Anniina Niemistö, Director, Communications, Fazer Lifestyle Foods, anniina.niemisto@fazer.com, + 358 40 674 4672
The Fazer media phone is open Mon–Fri from 8 am to 4 pm, tel. +358 40 668 2998, media@fazer.com
Fazer Group
Fazer, The Food Experience Company, enables people to enjoy the best moments of their day. Our mission, Food with a purpose, builds on our strong 130-year heritage, consumer first approach and innovations to create the sustainable food solutions of the future. With our dedicated team of professionals, we focus on fast-moving consumer goods and our direct-to-consumer business in the Nordics, Baltics, and beyond with exports to some 40 different countries. Fazer’s operations comply with its Code of Conduct that is based on the Group’s values and the UN Global Compact. In 2021, Fazer Group had net sales of 1.1 billion euros and employed approximately 8,000 people.
Northern Magic. Made Real.
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