GCP is delighted to welcome Sucden to the platform. In this Meeting Members feature, we learn about the company’s approach to complex challenges facing the coffee sector and how GCP Membership is helping to achieve its own sustainability goals.
Sucden Coffee is an independent pure player in green coffee and a leading coffee merchant. We commercialize both Arabica and Robusta coffee qualities to service our worldwide network of clients ranging from multinational food and beverage chains to soluble coffee retailers and specialty coffee roasters. The breadth and depth of our coverage of the global wholesale coffee markets give us extraordinary flexibility to support clients with bespoke business solutions. We care about coffee and the people who grow, handle and process it. By working with our partners around the world, combining global presence with local expertise, we provide access to all the in-demand conventional and certified coffees including 4C, UTZ, Fair Trade, CAFE Practices, Rainforest Alliance and Organic.
At Sucden Coffee we acknowledge our role in helping to build a resilient coffee supply chain to safeguard natural resources and to secure the livelihood of millions of coffee farmers around the world. Our sustainability goals and targets are aligned with the Sustainability Framework put forward by the Sustainable Coffee Challenge and the GCP. Our ambition for 2025 is:
Pillar I. – Coffee : Train at least 15,000 smallholder farmers a year on good agricultural practices
Pillar II. – Markets : Achieve 50% of certified/verified coffee in our trade
Pillar III. – People : Involve at least 5.000 farmers in income-diversification projects
Pillar IV. – Planet : Provide access to 300.000 tree seedlings to planted on coffee farms and/or community land
We are fully aware that complex challenges faced by the coffee supply chain can only be tackled in collaboration at sector level. We appreciate and support the initiative taken by the Global Coffee Platform to unite and structure the movement towards a better coffee future for all. Therefore, we commit to participate in this collective journey by sharing knowledge, leveraging resources, and striving to build enabling environments for change to take place.
‘Sucden has become one of the major coffee suppliers and processors in the world, and we recognize our responsibility for a sustainable coffee sector. Therefore, we are happy to join GCP, a true multi-stakeholder association with a clear sustainable reference code that the coffee industry is striving for.’
Hidde Eikelboom, Head of Robusta
We trust that our GCP Membership will only further reinforce our existing engagement in the Collective Action Initiatives in Vietnam and Uganda and open the doors for further opportunities. Furthermore, we will aim to align our sustainability programs with the Coffee Sustainability Reference Code in the coming months. Finally, we remain open for dialogue and co-creation to achieve a thriving and sustainable coffee sector for all!
This contribution forms part of a series called Meeting Members.
The words and images have been provided by Veronika Semelkova, Sustainability Coordinator, Sucden Coffee
