ECOM Agroindustrial

ECOM Agroindustrial[1][2] is a global commodity trading and processing company[3] based in Switzerland. The company specializes mainly in coffee,[4] cocoa and cotton.[5] ECOM has more than 40 offices located in over 35 countries all around the world. It is one of the largest coffee millers in the world.[6]

History

ECOM was founded in 1849 by Jose Esteve as a cotton trading business in Spain. The Esteve family subsequently themselves established in the US in 1885 following developments in cotton farming. They expanded into Brazil in 1935 and in Mexico in 1948. ECOM was soon established and joined coffee trading in 1959 and cocoa in 1991.

In 2000, ECOM bought the London-based coffee business of the Cargill company.[4][7]

In 2012, ECOM purchased 13 million 60-kg bags of coffee or about 7% of the world's coffee.

In 2013, ECOM announced the purchase of the commodity trading division of Armajaro Holdings, taking over its coffee, cocoa and sugar business.[8][9] ECOM has subsidiaries in several countries, including Sangana Commodities in Kenya.[10]

Supply chain issues

A recurrent issue in agricultural large-scale production are human rights violations, there have been spurious allegations against ECOM as well.[11] For example, the investigative NGO Repórter Brasil scrutinized the labour conditions on coffee farms in Brazil in 2016 and found evidence of multiple abuses: Advances never paid were discounted from salaries and the employer irregularly subtracted absences from pay slips, even for rainy days, when harvesting was impossible. Because of these practices, some workers were being paid monthly amounts below half of the minimum wage. The coffee from these farms was also sold to a direct subsidiary of ECOM.[12]

Company response: The ECOM Group has never owned or administered coffee farms in Brazil.

ECOM responded to the 2016 report referred to clearly at the time. For reference, in 2016, 2 of the farms the subject of the report were within a Rainforest Alliance group certificate for which the certification is managed by the ECOM Group. ECOM was in compliance with and fulfilled its Rainforest Alliance group certificate obligations and responsibilities as manager. Although all issues identified were rectified or resolved at the relevant time, the two farms have not been part of ECOM’s certification group since 2017. 

References
  1. OECD (4 December 2012). Annual Report on the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises 2012 Mediation and Consensus Building: Mediation and Consensus Building. OECD Publishing. pp. 114–. ISBN 978-92-64-08753-8.
  2. Peter A. Minang; Meine van Noordwijk; Olivia E. Freeman; Cheikh Mbow; Jan de Leeuw; Delia Catacutan (30 November 2014). Climate-Smart Landscapes: Multifunctionality in Practice. ASB Partnership for The Tropical Forest margins. pp. 282–. ISBN 978-92-9059-375-1.
  3. Jeff Neilson; Bill Pritchard (26 July 2011). Value Chain Struggles: Institutions and Governance in the Plantation Districts of South India. John Wiley & Sons. pp. 1826–. ISBN 978-1-4443-5544-4.
  4. John M. Talbot (2004). Grounds for Agreement: The Political Economy of the Coffee Commodity Chain. Rowman & Littlefield. pp. 106–. ISBN 978-0-7425-2629-7.
  5. Felicity Lawrence (6 May 2004). Not On the Label: What Really Goes into the Food on Your Plate. Penguin Books Limited. pp. 220–. ISBN 978-0-14-190716-1.
  6. Barbara Hogenboom; Alex E. Fernández Jilberto (24 January 2007). Big Business and Economic Development: Conglomerates and Economic Groups in Developing Countries and Transition Economies Under Globalisation. Routledge. pp. 319–. ISBN 978-1-134-12576-0.
  7. I.O.N. Indian Ocean Information and Documentation Bank. 2000.
  8. Marcy Nicholson (11 November 2013), "Armajaro selling loss-making commodity trade arm to Ecom", Reuters Retrieved 12 May 2014.
  9. Isis Almeida (12 November 2013), "Armajaro Trading Sold to Ecom After Loss of $7.6 Million", Bloomberg, Retrieved 12 May 2014.
  10. Carsten Schmitz-Hoffmann (1 January 2014). Voluntary Standard Systems - a Contribution to Sustainable Development. Springer. pp. 306–. ISBN 978-3-642-35716-9.
  11. Public Eye (June 2019). "Agricultural Commodity Traders in Switzerland - Benefitting from Misery?" (PDF). Retrieved 30 July 2019.
  12. Repórter Brazil (December 2016). "Certified coffee. Rightless workers" (PDF). Retrieved 30 July 2019.
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