Ethical Sourcing
Our approach to sourcing is guided by strong ethical standards, given the scale, diversity, and geographic reach of our supply chain. We work with a broad network of agricultural producers, packaging suppliers, and service contractors operating across multiple jurisdictions with differing legal, social, and environmental standards. How goods and services are sourced and produced directly affects people, communities, and the integrity of our value chain.
Why This Matters
From a social and environmental perspective, ethical sourcing requires ongoing attention to labor and human rights conditions, occupational health and safety, fair treatment of workers, and environmental performance within upstream operations. These considerations are particularly relevant in complex or lower-tier supply chains, where oversight can be more challenging. We address these risks through due diligence, transparency, and engagement that extend beyond our own operations.
Ethical sourcing also has clear business implications. Strong sourcing practices also bolster supplier reliability, protect brand trust, and reinforce long-term relationships with customers, regulators, and other stakeholders.
Our Approach
Our approach to ethical sourcing is guided by our Ethical Sourcing Policy and Supplier Code of Conduct, which set clear expectations for suppliers, agents, and subcontractors across our value chain. These frameworks define the standards we expect in areas such as business integrity, fair treatment of workers, labor and human rights, occupational health and safety, environmental compliance, and anti-corruption. They prohibit practices such as child labor, forced labor, discrimination, and bribery, and require suppliers to meet or exceed applicable legal and regulatory requirements in the jurisdictions in which they operate.
Supplier Due Diligence
Ethical sourcing expectations are embedded within our supply-chain management processes. The Supply Chain function is responsible for supplier engagement, onboarding, and ongoing compliance assurance, supported by ESG-focused supplier questionnaires and ethical-sourcing review processes. These mechanisms are designed to assess supplier performance against social, environmental, and governance criteria and to identify areas requiring corrective action or closer monitoring. During the year, the Ethical Sourcing Policy was revised to reinforce supply chain integrity by strengthening supplier obligations and implementing a stronger prohibition on environmental harm.
Oversight of ethical sourcing is integrated into our broader governance and risk-management structures, with senior management accountability for adherence to our Ethical Sourcing Policy and Code of Conduct. Supplier assurance activities, including audits and certification requirements where applicable, are used to verify compliance and reinforce consistent standards across the supply base. Our approach also promotes alignment with internationally recognized standards and certification schemes relevant to supplier quality and integrity, establishing a common baseline of expectations and continuous improvement across the supply chain.
Key Developments
During the year, we focused on strengthening supplier engagement and embedding ethical sourcing expectations more consistently across procurement activities.
Almarai Supplier Day
A Group-wide Supplier Day was conducted to communicate requirements related to labor standards, human rights, environmental compliance, and responsible business conduct under our Ethical Sourcing Policy and Supplier Code of Conduct. The event brought together a total of 332 suppliers, including 171 local and 161 overseas suppliers, and served as a platform to clarify expectations, promote responsible business practices, and reinforce the importance of compliance across different supplier categories and geographies.
Integrating Ethical Sourcing
Alongside supplier engagement, ethical sourcing considerations began to be integrated more systematically into procurement processes. This included embedding ethical sourcing requirements into supplier onboarding and contractual expectations and strengthening the consistency of ethical sourcing messaging across supplier communications. Supplier quality teams continued to conduct supplier audits during the year, which currently focus on quality and food safety requirements. Sustainability and ethical sourcing assessments are under development and will be included in the next cycle of Ethical Sourcing targets.
Supplier Development
Procurement teams also continued targeted supplier development initiatives, including working with selected suppliers to strengthen sustainability programs and reporting capabilities. These actions reflect an early-stage but deliberate approach to operationalizing ethical sourcing, with a focus on expectation-setting, supplier awareness, and internal readiness as a foundation for more structured monitoring and assurance mechanisms over time.
Progress Toward Targets
Current Targets
Status
Put an ethical sourcing process and audit plan in place by 2025.
Target achieved as of 2024.
Metrics
2,608
Suppliers engaged
89%
Purchased volume verified as aligned with internationally recognized responsible production standards (Scope: GCC)
61
New suppliers screened using social and/or environmental criteria