Understanding the Stickiness of Commodity Supply Chains Is Key to Improving Their Sustainability

Abstract

Highlights d Stickiness is key for accountability of supply-chain actors d The soy traders with the largest market share are geographically stickier d Stickier traders also show higher soy-deforestation risk d Stickier traders are also signatories of zero-deforestation commitments

Traders as sustainability governance actors in global food supply chains: A research agenda

“…Finally, while our empirical basis in this paper focuses on three tree crop commodities (coffee, cocoa, and palm oil), we encourage researchers to also investigate the role of traders as sustainability governance actors in other types of agricultural commodity value chains, where the propositions on the advantages and challenges of traders as sustainability implementers presented in Sections 6 and 7 might need to be more carefully tested for their applicability. Recent research into the “stickiness” (i.e., place‐based continuity) of annual crop trade (dos Reis et al, 2020) is of particular relevance to evaluate the potential for traders to act as place‐based sustainability champions. The prevalence of smallholder producers, the production base's capacity for sustainability improvements, and the relationships and power dynamics within value chains should also be carefully considered in the development of a cross‐commodity research agenda (e.g., spanning annual crops, tree crop commodities, fishery, and cattle supply chains) on the role of traders as sustainability governance actors in the food system.…”

The influence of company sourcing patterns on the adoption and effectiveness of zero-deforestation commitments in Brazil’s soy supply chain

“…Recent advances in remote sensing (Curtis et al, 2018) and supply chain mapping (Godar et al, 2015;Trase, 2020a) have facilitated empirical research on such initiatives' effectiveness. For example, zu Ermgassen et al (2020) used spatial data on individual supply chains to monitor progress against ZDCs in the Brazilian soy export sector. While these studies inform on the overall effectiveness of ZDCs, they provide scant evidence on how different sourcing strategies and patterns influence this effectiveness.…”

“…A critical characteristic of supply chain sourcing patterns is the degree of geographic persistence in bilateral trade flows (Villoria and Hertel, 2011). Such persistence may have a considerable influence on traders' capacity to source deforestation-risk commodities compliant with their ZDCs (Reis et al, 2020;Garrett et al, 2019). Patterns of trade persistence may result from traders' strategies but also other factors beyond their direct control.…”

“…We apprehend persistence in trade patterns through the notion of "stickiness", which is defined as "the maintenance and recovery, over time and through shocks, of supply chains' geographic network configurations, i. e., the network of trade linkages and flows between specific places of production and consumption, and specific actors including producers, traders, retailers, and consumers" (Reis et al, 2020).…”

“…We focus on the soy export sector in Brazil, given its importance in deforestation and the momentum of ZDCs in this sector. We use spatiotemporal data on supply chain stickiness from Reis et al (2020) covering the years 2003 -2017. Two distinct econometric models are employed to assess (i) whether and to what extent supply chain stickiness tends to increase the probability of adopting a ZDC, and (ii) how supply chain stickiness may influence the overall effectiveness of ZDCs, measured through observed reductions of native vegetation loss in sourcing regions for companies with or without commitments.…”