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Agriculture
19 Availability
21 Food safety in the supply chain
22 GMO
22 Environmental aspects
We are committed to working closely
with our supply chain partners in
order to achieve a sustainable value
chain with long-term benefits for all
our stakeholders.
Henk de Bruin
Group Supply Chain Policies Manager
Beer is a natural product. It consists of pure
water, malted barley, hops and yeast. In some
local brands, part of the malted barley is replaced
by other cereals. We depend on a sufficient flow
of good-quality raw materials to be able to brew
superior beers. At Heineken we do not take the
availability, quality and environmental provenance
of the raw materials for granted.
The information included in this section has
been compiled on the basis of insights, data
and background material that is available on
Group level.
Availability
2006 was not a good year for the production of
barley, our most important agricultural ingredient.
Adverse weather conditions in Europe, specifically
a hot and a dry month of July and an extremely
wet month of August, significantly lowered both
the quality and the total quantity of the barley
harvest. In addition, the poor harvest in Australia
compounded the problem, which resulted in
significant higher barley and malt prices. Another
factor also started to influence the price and
./Tli
Sustainability Report 2006
Heineken N.V. 19
