Governance

To increase yields without additional land expansion, we continue to focus on cloning in our upstream palm oil operations to identify and select oil palm variations based on yield performance and other parameters. We are scaling up production to 500,000 clonal palms per year by 2026 following the establishment of our new oil palm clonal lab in Central Kalimantan, Indonesia. We expect yields to improve by as much as 30 per cent through these variations.

We have been conducting research in collaboration with Temasek Life Sciences Laboratory (TLL) on the use of genetic screening to shorten the palm breeding cycle, which has the potential to halve the breeding process time compared to conventional methods. We are currently carrying out field tests on selected genetic markers against fresh fruit bunches (FFB) yields in sampled palms.

The TLL team is also currently testing DNA markers associated with Ganoderma resistance while also discovering that drought-tolerant oil palms could be selected at the seeding stage.

Wilmar Sugar Australia is trialling the use of Genomic Selection technology using Single Nucleotide Polymorphism (SNP) chips as part of its plant breeding programme to identify ‘super’ parents that contain additive traits that will help improve sugarcane yields and sugar content of their progeny.

The WIL@NUS Corporate Laboratory has undertaken an important study over the last three years to identify food ingredients that can better contribute towards healthy living and well-being. Clinical trials were completed and its results published in the Journal of Nutrition. WIL@NUS is a US$110-million, five-year partnership between Wilmar, the National University of Singapore (NUS) and the National Research Foundation that was launched in 2018.

WIL@NUS Corporate Laboratory is jointly set up by Wilmar, National University of Singapore and the National Research Foundation.

Wilmar is committed to providing consumers access to healthy, nutritious and affordable food especially in emerging markets. We are well-positioned to respond to consumer needs for healthier lifestyles through new, innovative and enhanced products with additional nutritional attributes.

Our edible food products range from vegetable oils to sugar, flour, rice, noodles, specialty fats, snacks, bakery and dairy products. Regardless of whether the product is distributed wholesale or sold directly to customers, Wilmar consumer brands are renowned for their quality and reach five billion consumers worldwide. Our approach is centred on understanding the evolving science around nutrition and consumer preferences, to help us design and manufacture market-leading and nutritious food products. We also believe in being transparent in providing product information and educating our consumers. Starting with our employees, we released the first internal Wilmar Nutrition Newsletter in September 2020. This is a good way to raise awareness on health and well-being topics and to provide Wilmar employees with factual news relating to progress on clinical trials, nutrition and health.

The quality and safety of our products are of utmost importance and we have in place Food Safety Policy, Food Fraud Policy and Food Defence Policy to ensure that our food products consistently meet regulatory and compliance standards.

Our food factories are required to be certified under the food safety certification scheme accredited by the Global Food Safety Initiative while a majority of our factories are also certified under the Food Safety System Certification (FSSC 22000) scheme, both of which are internationally recognised food safety certifications. Where relevant, Wilmar also complies with the British Retail Consortium Global Standard for Food Safety as well as the Safe Quality Food programme for our operations in the United States of America. We also adhere to the Good Manufacturing Practice system which ensures our products meet food safety, quality and legal requirements. To control food safety risks especially in retail products, we commenced implementing the Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point system in 2021.

Wilmar strictly complies with applicable legal requirements and regulatory guidelines in each region where we operate, to ensure that we market and label our products in a responsible manner while upholding a high level of ethical standards. This includes, but is not limited to, not targeting children in our sales and marketing activities.

A large proportion of our supply of FFB, crude palm oil (CPO) and palm kernel oil (PKO) come from third-party suppliers all over the world. To help with the implementation of our NDPE commitments, we have put in place a comprehensive traceability programme since 2015. Our interactive supply chain map shows all our suppliers by country and refinery, providing further details such as the name of the facility/ company, location, percentage traceability to mill and progress on sustainability. In addition, we continue to monitor compliance of our direct supply chain through our Supplier Reporting Tool for each mill supplier, and our indirect supply chain through our Supplier Group Compliance Monitoring Programme using satellite data.

Being one of the world’s leading sugar players, we recognise the importance of extending our sustainability approach to also include our sugar supply chain and have thus launched our NDPE Sugar Policy in September 2021. This policy takes into account the specific context of the sugar supply chain while remaining fundamentally aligned with our approach and core beliefs outlined in our original NDPE policy, which we first launched in 2013 focusing on our palm oil supply chain. Core to this policy is a commitment to creating a transparent sourcing network through traceability mapping, which is a continuation of our previous work on tracing raw sugar supplies for our refineries.

We do recognise the importance of having flexibility in our approach to reflect the realities and available tools. In Australia, for example, we take into consideration its national programmes as well as the legal frameworks and their enforcement when determining compliance with our policies. In addition, we also recognise standards and schemes that are benchmarked gold or silver by the Sustainable Agriculture Initiative as equivalent to our NDPE Sugar Policy.

Wilmar Sugar agronomist in Australia measuring apparent electrical connectivity of soil in our sugarcane farm to identify physico-chemical properties that influence crop yield patterns.

Improving traceability and sustainability in our sugar supply chain

Smallholders make up the bulk of our sugar supply base, and to ensure inclusivity of sustainability for farmers, we launched the Wilmar NDPE Sugar policy in September 2021 based on three core principles:

• Protecting & Respecting People & Communities
• Protecting Natural Ecosystems
• Enhancing Operational Practices

PROTECTING
AND RESPECTING
PEOPLE AND
COMMUNITIES

• Respect and support internationally recognised human rights
• Respect and recognise the rights of all workers
• Respect and protect the rights of children and their welfare
• Respect land tenure rights
• Respect the rights of indigenous and local communities to give or withhold their Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC) to operations on lands to which they hold legal, communal, or customary rights
• Identify measures to provide remediation where the company has caused or contributed to negative human rights impacts

PROTECTING
NATURAL
ECOSYSTEMS

• No conversion of legally protected areas or HCV areas
• GHG emissions are measured, with reduction targets in place

ENHANCING
OPERATIONAL
PRACTICES

• Improving overall efficiency of operations
• Effective management of water
• Progressive implementation of agricultural best practice
• Preserve and enhance relevant biodiversity and ecosystem services

Wilmar instils a widespread culture of strong business ethics and compliance throughout our business and all our operations. This guides the right behaviour and decision-making within the Group and ensures we uphold the highest standards of integrity.

All Wilmar employees receive training and specific guidance on our corporate policies, either during onboarding or refresher training sessions, while the Board of Directors is encouraged to participate in training programmes that are relevant to their role. These corporate policies, which are reviewed and approved by our Board of Directors, include Code of Conduct, Code of Ethics, Anti-Bribery and Corruption Policy, Anti-Fraud Policy and Whistleblowing Policy.

Wilmar’s Tax Policy sets the direction on how all companies within the Group are to conduct their tax affairs. Our approach is based on key principles to ensure that we manage tax in a fair and responsible manner.

Our Whistleblowing Policy provides the framework for our employees and external parties, who have a business relationship with Wilmar, to raise concerns or incidences of corporate improprieties in confidence and without risk of reprisal. It also establishes the process to investigate and verify concerns followed by determining the appropriate follow-up actions.

There were no reported incidents of anti-competitive behaviour, monopolistic practices or corruption cases that involved Wilmar in 2021. There were also no significant incidents of non-compliance with any relevant environmental and socio-economic laws or regulations in our operations.

Wilmar also did not make any contributions to political organisations or campaigns in 2021.

Wilmar has established a dedicated system to address concerns surrounding data management as we strive to protect our employees’ and stakeholders’ rights to privacy while preventing cyber attacks from occurring.

Key developments, initiatives and emerging issues on IT security are regularly reported by our Chief Information Officer to the Chief Operating Officer and Board of Directors.

Wilmar’s Internal Privacy Policy addresses how employees must handle data in accordance with these regulations. Externally, the Wilmar Group Privacy Policy outlines how we collect, process, use and disclose personal data, while respecting the rights of individuals. In 2021, there were no substantiated complaints concerning breaches of customer privacy and losses of customer data.

More information on our efforts can be found in the Information Technology chapter.