Sustainability is here to stay
Sustainability and CSR have become central issues in the food industry and the seafood business is no exception. Studies tend to focus on end-users, not the purchasers determining what is available on the market. In the fall of 2014, Royal Greenland therefore decided to investigate the role of sustainability and CSR in a purchasing decision.
The purpose of the survey was to dig deeper into motivations and key parameters within CSR and sustainability, with the objective of understanding which elements are important to key decision-makers in seafood-buying companies. The 152 respondents were recruited among Royal Greenland's customers and contacts and represented 17 different countries in Europe and Asia. They were retailers, foodservice operators and industrial processors. On top of the web based survey, 7 qualitative interviews were conducted with representatives from different regions.
Sustainability is a must, certification is not
The results showed that sustainability is at the center of attention among seafood buyers. Across regions, sustainable fishing was rated as important or very important and thus the most important parameter within the field of CSR. This was supported, when respondents were asked to select among a number of areas in which poor performance by a supplier would mean that they would consider stop trading with them. Here, sustainable fishing was rated as the number one area, closely followed by working conditions. Another interesting finding is that MSC is rated lower than sustainable fishing, which indicates that buyers do not always equate sustainable fishery with MSC certification. Environmental performance is rated at approximately the same level as MSC certification.
Customers’ and consumers’ seek out sustainable products
In addition to the demands seafood buyers place on their suppliers, the survey also examined the demands they experience themselves from their own customers, whether it being other businesses, restaurant guests or supermarket shoppers. The results showed that buyers across regions experience a strong demand for sustainable seafood and MSC certified products. In retail, it seems that end-users are also willing to pay a premium for sustainable products, a tendency that is not as pronounced in the foodservice and industry segments. In addition, willingness to pay is not as pronounced in markets strongly affected by the financial crisis, such as Spain.
Customers and policies have more influence than NGOs
Lastly, the survey examined which factors influences seafood buying behaviour. The respondents rated customer demands as the most influential, secondly the company's own CSR or procurement policy and thirdly NGOs. However, the NGOs still have a large influence in setting the agenda and the public discourse through the media. Both end-users and seafood buying organisations use "safe-to-buy/eat" guides issued by the NGOs to navigate the market. The WWF was largely seen as the most influential NGO.
The findings of the survey confirm the interest in and demand for sustainable fishing as the dominating CSR theme. As more and more fisheries and species obtain certification, it will be interesting to see the extent to which the sustainability demands towards seafood will increase in relation to other CSR areas such as environmental issues, working conditions, etc.
