2015 Executive Summary, Nestlé, Balsu & Olam Hazelnut Supply Chain, Turkey

In August 2015, the Fair Labor Association (FLA) conducted independent assessments in the Turkish hazelnut supply chain shared by three FLA members – Nestlé, and its two strategic first-tier suppliers, Balsu and Olam Progida which together account for 100 percent of Nestlé’s hazelnut volume in Turkey.

All three companies are FLA members and have monitoring and remediation programs in place. Based on both internal and external monitoring results, company members must develop and implement remediation actions leading to sustainable changes. In Turkey, the three companies closely collaborate to implement monitoring and remediation activities, with Balsu and Olam  Progida having a more direct implementation role at the field level. Both suppliers are working on progressively tracing their hazelnut supply chain and increasing the number of farms under the scope of monitoring. To date, approximately 20 percent of Balsu’s, 24 percent of Olam’s, and 100 percent of Nestlé’s supply chain is traced as reported by the companies.  

Visiting the same regions – but not the same villages and farms – progress could be identified in the 2015 assessments (compared to 2014 assessments) in areas like training of workers and their awareness of the existence of a Workplace Code of Conduct. The FLA also found a significant decrease in the reporting of child labor, which suggests some success with the prioritization of the issue and the remediation activities implemented by the three companies. The reporting indicates the continued need for progress in other areas like hours of work, wages, discrimination against migrant workers, and transportation safety.