Welcome to our 2021 sustainability report. As with the previous years, the foundation of this report is our philosophy of sustainability and responsibility. We believe that we are caretakers of our resources and that we have a responsibility to ensure stability, security, and continuity in our operations so that they can be passed onto the next generation as thriving operations.
The ensuing Covid-19 pandemic continued to challenge our operations in 2021, but particularly on the livelihoods of the many associates within our value chain throughout the world. I am pleased to report that our operations have continued to support staff throughout this crisis, and I am also enormously proud of the way that our operations teams have stepped up to make a real difference in their respective communities. There are many examples to mention; however, to summarize, our responses included providing food as donations or at reasonable prices where local prices have soared, promoting health and wellbeing for the benefit of the local community where needed, and sponsoring training and development for our employees and wider partnership networks.
This year our Doing better every day strategy was once again put to the test. It has prompted us to think differently, prioritize differently, act differently, and bring empathy and compassion to the forefront of our decision-making. Throughout this volatile year, we continued to ask ourselves: How can we be better? How can we better support one another? How do we continue to move forward as a smarter, more resilient business?
As we navigated 2021 with care, our values of being adaptable, sharing, passionate, innovative, respectful, and excellent shone through during this challenging year. Our values grounded us as we navigated our response, planned for the short and long-term, and continued to put our vision to serve quality and nutritious food for wellbeing of our consumers and communities.
At the core of our Doing better every day strategy is our ambition to create shared value. This sustainability report provides insights and transparency to our stakeholders whilst holding ourselves accountable to our sustainability targets. We are proud of our achievements in 2021 and the report highlights our various successes and opportunities as we continue with enhanced resilience to progress against our 25 strategic sustainability targets. By putting our people first and focusing on what mattered most, we ended 2021 stronger and ready for the future.
Naif bin Sultan bin Mohammed bin Saud Al Kabeer
Chairman of the Board
Almarai is the World’s Largest Vertically Integrated Dairy Company, and the Middle East’s largest food and beverages manufacturer and distributer serving more than 42 million consumers in the Arabian Gulf region. Due to our geographic and economic scale, we are uniquely placed to enhance sustainability and build a more resilient and equal future for all. Entering into the fourth year of our Doing better every day strategy, the Covid-19 pandemic continued to affect our daily business operations. While continuing to navigate through challenges with strength and resilience, we continued to work tirelessly towards the 25 sustainability targets that are aligned with the Saudi Vision 2030 and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. I am proud of our accomplishments in 2021 as we continued to implement new initiatives and embed a culture of sustainability throughout our organization.
We are committed to ‘Caring for people,’ a culture that has been exemplified throughout the challenging Covid-19 period. We have been responsive to continual changes and supported our employees and consumers by prioritizing health, safety, and wellbeing through a variety of measures. This includes actively promoting vaccinations through awareness campaigns and sponsoring vaccine centers for use by employees and the communities we serve. Providing this support was just one of the many ways that we invest in our communities. In 2021, we continued to support over 300 charities close to our operations through sponsorships, events, awareness campaigns, and the donation of over 500,000 products. We are proud to have donated 2.7M healthy servings by 2021, which far exceeds our 2025 goal of 2.5M healthy servings.
Working in the farming, agriculture, and manufacturing sectors, our people recognize the importance of maintaining a balanced ecosystem. We remain committed to ‘Protecting the planet’ by putting in place continued measures to achieve our environmental goals. In 2021, Almarai was proud to be ranked fourth globally in the list of Kantar Research Company in achieving sustainability for the environment. This was a testament to the hard work and dedication of our people as they implement efficiencies, savings, and protection measures across the many environmental aspects of our business including energy, water, waste, refrigerants, transport, and farming. Our focus stretches further than just our direct operations with initiatives to reduce our packaging for consumers and the investment into environmental protection schemes.
Our commitments towards people and the environment are connected to our commitment to ‘Producing responsible products.’ We want our consumers to lead enriched and healthy lives with access to products that are produced at the highest safety and environmental standards. In 2021, Almarai Manufacturing Facilities achieved Food Safety certification according to FSSC 22000, a standard recognized by the Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI). in 2021, Almarai also achieved international animal wellness certification for farms and operations by NSF International to become first company globally for dairy and first company in Saudi Arabia for poultry. These certifications are the latest assurance for customers and consumers that food produced by Almarai has been assured for quality, safety, and animal wellness.
Our achievements this year could not have been realized without the dedication of our employees. I would like to thank them for all their hard work in what has been a continually challenging year, further affected by the Covid-19 pandemic. Without their support our Doing better every day strategy would not be such a success. As we continue our journey to a more sustainable 2025, I welcome you to learn more about our company and progress in this report.
Abdullah Albader
CEO
