Procurement
With supply chain spending of $15.4 billion annually, our procurement can have a significant economic impact on countries, regions, communities and individual companies. We follow ethical business practices throughout our supply chain, and seek to work with contractors, suppliers and business partners who are committed to sustainability.
Before engaging new suppliers, contractors or business partners, we assess whether their business practices and performance meet our standards. Within each commodity business, the sustainability team evaluates applications from potential new suppliers to determine whether an audit is required.
Our commodity businesses have the flexibility to purchase products and services locally. Factors affecting supplier selection include:
- experience and technical ability
- environmental, safety and labour standards
- local expertise and workforce capacity
- reliability and reputation
- innovation
- working methods
- cost
- quality
Our corporate social investment (CSI) programmes support community members to establish small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), and we help smaller companies to gain the skills required to become suppliers to Xstrata and other customers.
In South Africa, we give preference to companies owned or operated by historically disadvantaged South Africans (HDSA) in all discretionary spending. We also support HDSA suppliers by providing management training and sharing technology and expertise to ensure they meet our standards. Where no appropriate HDSA supplier is available, we encourage mainstream suppliers to partner with HDSA companies.
