Sveriges stärkelseproducenter
Sustainability report
FY 23
Welcome to our sustainability report
Sveriges stärkelseproducenter
Sustainability for us
Our business is based on an effective interplay between nature and humans, and we work hard to ensure this interplay is sustainable in the long term.
The year in brief
Hans Holmstedt
A few words from our CEO
Sveriges Stärkelseproducenter operates through our brands, Lyckeby, Solam, Culinar and Kockens, on a global market that in the last financial year has been strongly affected by the invasion of Ukraine. Both from the human perspective and the more business-relevant, where inflation, high energy prices and a poor economic situation have had a clear effect on our business. Global uncertainty reveals our society’s vulnerability, and the necessity for us as a company to work in a methodical and long-term way with our sustainability process.
About Sveriges Stärkelseproducenter
Sveriges Stärkelseproducenter is an agricultural cooperative founded in 1927. The association has 600 members in southern Sweden, of whom 400 are active growers of our primary raw material – starch potatoes.
The association has two business areas: starch and flavor. Our starch operations are run under the name Lyckeby, while flavor is managed by the companies Culinar Sverige AB (Culinar) and Kockens AB (Kockens) and Lyckeby Culinar A.S. In total, the association employs around 360 people in Sweden and 130 in the Czech Republic. Turnover is approximately 3 billion kronor.
Our vision
Our vision
Starch potatoes are the most profitable option for our growers.
Our timeline
Starch
We produce starch from potatoes and transform it to suit our customers’ needs and requirements. All of the potatoes in our Swedish production are grown by our owners.
Read more about the business area
The process water from production is returned to the fields to water the crops
Our main raw material is starch potatoes grown by our owners
Soil and stones from potato deliveries are used as fill materials, for example during road construction
We refine starch into starch for the paper industry
The potatoes delivered to the starch factory are fractionated into starch, fiber, and protein
The starch and fiber are also refined into value-added products for the food industry
The plant parts remaining after the food-grade fiber has been processed are concentrated into pulp and sold as feed. Also the potato protein is refined into a nutritious feed product
The nutrients in the potato juice are concentrated and sold as fertilizer
Our brands within the starch business area
Starch operations
We buy potatoes, in Sweden from our potato growers and owners, and in the Czech Republic from 150 local growers. Then we process and utilize the material in the potato in the best possible way so we can offer customized, functional potato starch products to customers within the food and paper industries. We focus on markets and applications where potato starch has high potential, giving our customers added value. When you buy from Lyckeby, you always get support and knowledge within the areas of product development, applications, logistics, and quality, from our highly experienced team. Our mission is for the starch potato to be the most profitable alternative for our growers.
In addition to transforming the starch, we also make use of side streams from other components in the starch potato, as far as possible. We transform the potato fiber to a food-grade product, sell the protein as animal food, and in our Swedish operations the juice and surplus water are transferred back to the fields as concentrate to fertilize and water the crops. A circular process that we are very proud of!
Lyckeby
Sveriges Stärkelseproducenter offers customized, functional starch products and potato fiber to the global food industry under the Lyckeby brand.
Solam
Sveriges Stärkelseproducenter sells value-added starch products to the paper industry in Europe under the Solam brand.
Flavor
We blend spices with other ingredients to create products that simplify customer logistics.
Read more about the business area
Seed
Cultivation
Harvest
Processing
Documentation
Quality control
Purchasing
Delivery
Quality control
Recipe development
Packaging
Quality control
Distribution
Consumer
Our brands within the flavor business area
Our flavor operations
At Culinar, we blend spices from all over the world with other functional ingredients (including Lyckeby’s potato starch) to create ready-to-use flavor and texture ingredients for the food industry. Our role in the value chain is to simplify and streamline logistics and blending in the customer’s end process.
Contributing support and knowledge within applications such as snacks, meat and deli, bakery, etc., is an important part of our business. Here we collaborate closely with the customer so the consumer receives a good end product. As well as application knowledge, we also optimize packaging and manufacturing to minimize waste and simplify handling of ingredients by the customer.
At Culinar, we also create products that are sold directly to the consumer and to the catering industry via Kockens.
Culinar
Kockens
Our production units
Sveriges Stärkelseproducenter has five production units in Sweden and two in the Czech Republic, all located close to where our starch raw materials are grown.
Our sustainability process
As a business, we need never doubt that our products have a self-evident place in a sustainable future, but with this knowledge as a foundation we constantly strive to improve our working methods – with the ambition of minimizing negative impacts from our operations and maximizing their benefits for society. We have chosen to focus our sustainability efforts within four main focus areas we feel are most relevant from a risk and impact perspective.
These focus areas are common to our two business areas, and follow our value chain, centering on the processing of cultivated raw materials. Our focus on these areas means we can contribute to a more sustainable world. Here, we present our focus areas and the Agenda 2030 goals we link to our sustainability process.
A value-adding workplace
Sustainable cultivation
Resource-efficient operations
The products of the future
A value-adding workplace
Our workplaces should generate value in the form of security, satisfaction, diversity, and equality for everyone working in them. The basis for this approach can be found in Swedish legislation and is reinforced by our corporate culture, which is characterized by commitment, pride, and loyalty.
Sustainable cultivation
Our primary raw materials are cultivated crops. Around the world, cultivation faces a range of challenges within areas such as biodiversity, climate impact, and social conditions. We aim to meet relevant challenges with knowledge and responsibility.
RESOURCE-EFFICIENT OPERATIONS
In addition to adding value to the starch, we also make use of side streams, creating sustainable production with high circularity. In our factories, we also work continuously to ensure production takes place with the least possible input of energy and chemicals.
The products of the future
Our close collaborations with customers in the context of long-term and trusting relationships are central to us. With high levels of transparency and support within the entire chain of sales, logistics, product development, and quality, we create security both for the customer and for our own employees. This in turn leads to good business transactions and we can gain important insights from our customers in terms of how we can become a more sustainable company.
Mathias Samuelsson
A value-adding workplace
Read more about the focus area!
We know that a sense of community and job satisfaction are very important for our employees. And our employees are very important for us. So we invest a great deal in creating a positive culture where everyone is happy.
Charlotte Olsson
A value-adding workplace
Our employees generate value for the business through their knowledge and commitment. In return, we want to give them a workplace that creates value and quality of life, in the form of security and job satisfaction. So that everyone can contribute to our sustainable development, we also need to ensure we have the right skills and culture, in which everyone’s capacity is utilized.
Our responsibility as an employer is based in legislation, practice, and central collective agreements. In addition to this, we apply local agreements on conditions, and local policies on rules, procedures, etc., which further reinforce our position. But our work goes much further than this. To ensure our future, it is important to be an attractive employer on every level, for both new and existing employees.
Niklas Nilsson
Diversity, gender equality, and equal treatment
The fact that everyone is of equal value, and that it’s important to utilize everyone’s skills and commitment are important foundations in our business. This means we all have the same rights, opportunities, and responsibilities within all areas, regardless of gender, age, ethnic or cultural background, disability, or sexual orientation. This naturally also means that all forms of discrimination and harassment are prohibited in the workplace.
KPI overview
Here we provide a summary of the KPIs we follow in our sustainability work, and how close we are to achieving our goals.
Sustainable cultivation
Read more about the focus area!
Our ambition is to be able to contribute to a sustainable development of global spice cultivation. We therefore devote considerable resources to making sustainability risks visible and following them up in our supplier chains.
Khirim Fager
Sustainable cultivation
Flavor
We purchase raw materials from all over the world, which represents a significant challenge when it comes food safety, cultivation conditions, working conditions, human rights, and environmental impact.
Flavor development area
Starch
Starch development area
Johan Kjellsson
KPI overview
Here we provide a summary of the KPIs we follow in our sustainability work, and how close we are to achieving our goals.
Resource-efficient operations
Read more about the focus area!
Energy is a major cost for us, not least in the past year, and we are working hard to reduce our energy consumption. There are only advantages in doing so, for our company, for society, and the climate.
Tomas Arnesson
Resource-efficient operations
By making use of side streams and working efficiently, we create sustainable production with high circularity. In our factories we constantly strive to ensure that all operations use the least possible input in the form of energy and chemicals.
Energy efficiency has always been a high-priority issue, and our Swedish production facilities have been certified according to ISO 50001 for many years. We also undertake continuous improvement of our measurement and monitoring systems for our carbon footprint, in parallel with taking measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, for example by replacing fossil fuels in production and transports.
As one aspect of optimizing resource use, we also strive to increase material recovery in our operations.
Emission factor for our customers’ climate calculations
Customers and consumers increasingly demand information about the carbon footprint of different products, and standardization of this area is continuing. We strive to meet our customers’ needs for information about our products.
KPI overview
Here we provide a summary of the KPIs we follow in our sustainability work, and how close we are to achieving our goals.
The products of the future
Read more about the focus area!
We are Sveriges Stärkelseproducenter. Our customers’ success is our primary motivation!
Jens Bengtsson
The products of the future
Development is a very important part of Sveriges Stärkelseproducenter’s operations, and our development departments collaborate closely with our customers to develop new products that meet consumer needs. Demand for sustainable solutions in the form of climate-smart options, clean label, plant-based products, and healthier variants is increasing, as too is the demand for transparency in the value chain.
The experts in our development departments have long experience of working with different applications and know which ingredients are required to handle different production processes. We offer support in the development of new sustainable products by helping our customers to choose sustainable ingredients that work in their various applications.
A continuous process is also underway in our starch operations to develop our by-products, increasing resource efficiency.
Lyckeby Careful – clean label
Today’s consumer constantly demands more sustainable products, and our Lyckeby Careful portfolio has been created especially to respond to this demand.
KPI overview
Here we provide a summary of the KPIs we follow in our sustainability work, and how close we are to achieving our goals.