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Our Supply Chain

Tea and Coffee

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'Our targets are to source 100 percent of coffee beans from certified sources by 2013, and 100 percent of black tea from certified sources by 2015'

Our FLAVIA® and KLIX® brands provide over a billion drinks each year to more than 35,000 businesses and their employees.

Like other tropical crops, tea and coffee cultivation provide crucial employment and sources of income in developing countries but also raise a number of environmental and social concerns. We are committed to improving the lives of the farmers in our supply chain and sourcing all our drinks sustainably in the long term.

As the next step in the right direction, we are focusing on certification of the key agricultural raw materials for our drinks – coffee and tea. We already offer a range of drinks with certified content. We plan to continue to expand this range and deal only with partners who trade responsibly.

By the end of 2010, 38 percent of the net sales value of our FLAVIA®/ALTERRA COFFEE ROASTERS and THE BRIGHT TEA CO. branded drinks included certified content. Toward the end of 2010 in the United States, we replaced FLAVIA® branded coffee and tea with individual new brands: ALTERRA COFFEE ROASTERS and THE BRIGHT TEA CO.. We plan to increase the number of products within these brands that include certified content, and to roll out the new brands globally in 2011.

To further increase certified content, we have set more challenging targets based on the volume of certified coffee and tea we purchase rather than products with certified content. These targets are based on purchases from sources certified by a named independent third party. Certification partners we currently work with are the Rainforest Alliance and UTZ CERTIFIED.

Working with Coffee Producers

Our target is for 100 percent of ALTERRA coffee beans to be purchased from certified sources by 2013. FLAVIA®/ALTERRA coffees already certified include Morning Roast Coffee and French Roast Coffee.

For several years, we have worked with about 1,800 farmers from a cooperative in the Kiambu district of Kenya to improve the quality and yield of their coffee. Activities have included providing training in good agricultural practices, renovating infrastructure such as drying tables and fermentation tanks to improve the quality of the coffee and developing a seedling nursery.

We source coffee beans for our KENYA FLAVIA®/ALTERRA coffee directly from this cooperative, and our support helped it become the first Rainforest Alliance certified smallholder cooperative in Kenya in May 2010. Following this success, we plan to launch four similar programs in Africa, South America and South East Asia in 2011, impacting many more farmers’ lives.

Working with Tea Producers

Our target is for 100 percent of the black tea we buy for THE BRIGHT TEA CO. to be certified by 2015. We have prioritized our coffee target for 2013 as we source more coffee than tea and can make a larger impact here. FLAVIA®/ THE BRIGHT TEA CO. teas already certified include English Breakfast Tea, Earl Grey Tea and Royal Blend Tea.

In 2010, we launched a farmer field school initiative for tea producers in Kenya. This provides training at two tea factories for around 60 farmers, teaching them techniques for improving tea quality and yields and encouraging a sustainable supply for future generations. The intention is for these farmers to train their fellow producers, creating the potential for thousands more farmers to improve their skills.

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