Agricultural Services

AGRICULTURAL SERVICES

Services to the Trade:  SGS traces its origins to 1878 when its founders understood the implicit need for traders to be represented during loading and discharge of vessels. Thus SGS set up a unique network of specialists and laboratories in major ports to ensure that contractual terms were complied with. In time, SGS Certificates reflecting the weight, number of bags and quality of the goods served as essential documents to elicit payment from the buyer.

With its extensive experience in port handling operations, SGS offers services to mitigate the many risks that traders face. With its Guaranteed Business Solution, SGS covers discrepancies in weight or quality between loading and discharge. These solutions can be extended to cover marine insurance, rejection of goods at reception or re-infestation of the goods by insects.

Inland Services:  In recent years SGS has expanded its activity to cover the entire Agricultural Value Chain. Our Inland Agricultural Segment delivers solutions directly to the production area of Agriculture. Crop services including Crop Monitoring, Good Agricultural Practice Audits, Field Trials, Soil Fertility Management, Seeds Testing and Research, support existing and future production efficiency.

Supply Chain Services:  SGS offers a range of services that respond to consumers’ need to have more control and traceability over the food they eat:

• IPP (Identity Preservation Program (IPP) traces specific commodities, e.g. non-GM Soya, from the field it was grown in Brazil, up to the processing plant in Europe.
  
• Audit of all players in the supply chain ensures that they keep traceability records of the products they handle.
  
• Grading Onsite or Inland Business assists storage and handling companies in extracting maximum benefit from their crop harvest through proper segregation and blending.

Collateral Management:  The financial risks in trade are mitigated by securing the lender’s security rights over the goods. This right, called a pledge, guarantees the reimbursement of the loan. Through a Collateral Management Agreement, SGS acts as custodian of the pledge on behalf of the lender, usually a bank or financial institution. The goods are released by SGS only upon receipt of the release order from the bank (or lender).

• The SGS eCertificate, a digitized version of the paper, accelerates the paper flow and consequently speeds up the turnover of credit lines and diminishes the length of time it takes to close a transaction.

Commodities
SGS Agricultural Services offers its services to all agricultural market segments – grains, oil seeds, liquids, fibers, forestry, sugar, fruits, vegetables, nuts, cocoa and coffee.

Clientele
The SGS client base is made up of all of the various players in the  feed-food supply chain – from trading houses to purchasing agencies, food aid organizations, banks and insurance companies, as well as processors, life science, agrochemical companies, seed producers and farmers. All gain from the benefits of SGS’s extensive services.