METRO Cash & Carry: Supporting the local economy

METRO Cash & Carry makes an important contribution to the economy everywhere it does business by paying corporate taxes, building up modern trade infrastructures and providing reliable jobs. The company builds long-term partnerships with its professional customers, such as small retailers or restaurants. It helps local businesses grow by offering them a one-stop-solution for their purchases, improving their assortment, providing high-quality products at reasonable and transparent prices and offering a reliable supply source. In doing so, METRO Cash & Carry improves the competitiveness of these small businesses and helps them become prosperous in an increasingly challenging market.

Pakistan: Sharing knowledge

METRO Cash & Carry Pakistan lives up to its responsibilities to society – not only as a reliable taxpayer and employer, but also as a pioneer in supporting local suppliers. The company is planning to cooperate with the German Investment and Development Company (DEG) on a program to support farmers and fishermen. Participants will learn how to improve quality, increase yield and upgrade logistics. The training programs strengthen the competitive position of local producers and enable them to enter new export markets. As a pilot project METRO Cash & Carry Pakistan already implemented a training seminar for 50 fish farmers in Punjab. In Pakistan the company also invests in modern mobile fish handling centers to ensure the cold chain and set new quality standards for fresh produce.

India: Long-term commitment

METRO Cash & Carry India assumes responsibility towards its local partners. In collaboration with the German Investment and Development Association (DEG), as well as local authorities and universities, the company has trained more than 40,600 sheep farmers and 1,150 fishing crews. They learned how to improve quality, increase output and upgrade logistics. METRO Cash & Carry is providing more than 27.5 million Indian rupees for the project and is planning to enlarge its commitment along with its expansion to other states in India.

Vietnam: Training programs

After the success of its training programs for 15,000 fishermen and farmers, METRO Cash & Carry Vietnam has launched a follow-up project. Working hand in hand with the Vietnamese Ministry of Trade and the German Agency for Technical Cooperation (GTZ), the wholesaler is helping train more than 2,000 farmers, employees of transport companies and small retailers. The courses will cover subjects such as cultivation, post-harvest techniques, packing and preservation, with the goal of improving every step of the supply chain.

China: Role model for food safety

In cooperation with the Chinese Ministry of Commerce and local authorities, METRO Cash & Carry China has committed itself to the project “Agri Food Sourcing Bases” in 2007. In the framework of the program the company will develop an agricultural products sourcing base in Hefei, Anhui Province as a role model, in order to improve food safety in China, to modernize the agricultural production in the country as well as to develop farmers’ living standards. As a socially responsible company and leader in supply chain management, METRO Cash & Carry China will come up with a scientific and standardized production procedure, with experts and technicians to guide and train local farmers and third parties to guarantee the quality of agricultural products. The company will offer local farmers with practical training in terms of standard processing and transparent management, to control the food quality from farm to fork. The concrete business gain will be an assured supply of agricultural products from the respective areas, in line with Metro’s specification, directly from producers excluding the “middle man”. The direct influence in the sourcing areas will allow continuously tightening the requirements and improving the overall quality level.