COFCO International considers Matopiba an agricultural frontier with great potential and sees in the region an excellent opportunity to show that soy production can expand more sustainably, intensifying production in already opened areas or expanding to degraded lands, which are sufficient to meet the growing market demand. We are witnessing a change in the international market for grains, advancing with the mainstreaming of sustainable soy. This imposes a challenge to all players in the supply chain, and COFCO is ensuring it plays its role in this change.

In 2021, we achieved 100% farm-level traceability of current direct suppliers in Matopiba with environmental & social assessment against the goal of 85%, as part of an initiative with International Finance Corporation (IFC) under the Good Growth Partnership. We also supported and provided webinars to producers in the region and expect to further provide capacity building to our suppliers and engage with them next year.

COFCO International also announced signing an agreement for a new $700 million sustainability-linked three-year term loan with seven banks in September. The lenders agreed to provide financial incentives in the form of lower interest rates for COFCO International to achieve pre-agreed sustainability targets covering the traceability and socio-environmental screening of its Brazil soy supplies and overall Sustainalytics ESG rating. All margin savings will be used to fund the company’s own sustainability initiatives. This is COFCO International’s second sustainability-linked loan. The company had announced a $2.3 billion loan in July 2019, which was the largest for a commodity trader. These are crucial steps to meet the demands of the international market, in addition to the concern of consumers and investors with the preservation of natural resources and the production of soy in areas free from deforestation and conversion.