Sustainability Surveys

We have been conducting sustainability surveys since FY2008 to realize sustainable procurement and understand the actual conditions of suppliers. Each Division Company and applicable Group company selects important suppliers based on certain guidelines (e.g., high risk countries, products handled, industry sectors, and monetary value handled). The sales representatives of those Division Companies and representatives from overseas subsidiaries and operating companies then visit those suppliers to conduct interviews, in addition to a questionnaire format (sustainability checklist) with the seven core subjects of ISO26000 as essential survey items.

We conduct supply chain sustainability survey information seminar for employees who procure various products in a variety of countries ahead of the sustainability survey. We also provide training (buyer training) using the handbook to understand the Sustainability Action Guidelines for Supply Chains and ESG perspective that must be kept in mind in communication with suppliers. The contents of the questionnaire and handbook are reviewed annually to enhance the effectiveness of ESG risk identification and management.

Sustainability Survey Handbook

We have prepared a handbook on communication with suppliers. We are using this to inform our employees of how to communicate with suppliers. At the same time, we have set up a check system that enables employees to understand concretely the management situation in terms of the environment, human rights, labor practices and corruption prevention in important suppliers to give advice on making improvements. We will continue to conduct surveys and communicate with suppliers in the future to improve the awareness of our employees and to seek understanding and implementation from our suppliers.

Example Excerpt from the Handbook

Prohibition on Forced Labor

Purpose: Prohibition of forced labor

All forms of forced labor against the will of the individual are gross violations of human rights and are prohibited by international conventions such as those of the ILO.

Items to be checked

• Is all forced labor prohibited, including bonded or detained labor, involuntary or exploitative prison labor, slavery or human trafficking, and the admission of workers transferred by threat, force, coercion, abduction, or fraud?
• Are the original passports and IDs of foreign workers kept in custody, restrictions on going out and returning home in the employment contract, or loans of money at the time of signing the contract?

FY2025 Sustainability Surveys

We conducted surveys on a total of 270 companies in FY2025. We did not discover any serious problems requiring an immediate response from those results. For business partners where concerns were identified during the surveys, we conducted 100% follow-up investigations and confirmed that prompt corrective actions and countermeasures were implemented by these partners. Going forward, we will continue to seek the understanding of our business partners regarding our approach and maintain ongoing communication with them.
In the last three years, the surveys have covered 57% of our business partners that meet our survey criteria.

Number of Suppliers Surveyed

	All
		Textile Company	Machinery Company	Metals & Minerals Company	Energy & Chemicals Company	Food Company	General Products & Realty Company	ICT & Financial Business Company
FY2025	270	79	-	14	31	106	38	2
FY2024	275	75	9	14	31	106	38	2
FY2023	305	74	8	20	31	104	65	3
FY2022	320	105	9	20	31	104	48	3
FY2021	288	65	9	20	31	107	53	3

The Sustainability Management Division also visits and surveys important suppliers together with external experts as necessary.

Results of Survey for Department and Product Specific Supplementary Sustainability Items (Number of Suppliers Surveyed)

Procured Resource Type	FY2023	FY2024	FY2025
Paper, Wood-chips, Timber, Timber Products	52	32	14
Agricultural Crops	31	31	31
Meat Products	13	13	10
Natural Marine Products	29	28	14
Apparel	60	75	43
Palm Oil	8	8	7
Coffee Beans	23	26	8

Regional Breakdown of Number of Suppliers Surveyed

Human Rights Audits in the Poultry Industry in Thailand

Inspection of the CPF Saraburi Factory

We conducted a human rights audit targeting foreign workers in the Saraburi Factory (a chicken meat processed product factory) of Charoen Pokphand Foods Public Company Limited (CPF) — one of the main suppliers of the Food Company — accompanied by external auditors.
Recent years have seen an increase in cases where Japanese companies with Thai firms in their supply chain have been warned by NGO groups about human rights violations of foreign workers in the livestock and fishing industries in Thailand. We checked the factory for human rights risks in our supply chain through this audit.
This factory (slaughterhouse and food processing site) employs 1,300 Cambodians — equivalent to approximately 30% of its workers. That makes them an important part of the factory’s labor force. We checked a number of items in this audit. These included the extent of signage in Cambodian in facilities in the factory, a check of the evacuation routes, the attendance management situation, and the personal storage situation of passports and work permits. In addition, we also randomly chose some Cambodian employees actually working there and interviewed them about their actual working conditions.
This audit did not find any violations of the human rights of foreign workers, and reaffirmed there is sufficient consideration for human rights and the proactive approach CPF takes toward sustainability.

CPF has developed a safe working environment for its foreign workers.

• Supplier CSR Audit Report: CP Foods, Saraburi (PDF 678KB)

Response to Suppliers in Violation of Our Policy

When we have confirmed a case in which there has been a violation of the intent of any of our environmental or social policies, we request corrective action from the applicable supplier. Together with this, we conduct an on-site investigation to give guidance and improvement support as necessary.

In the FY2025 survey, the Sustainability Management Division carefully examined the answers from suppliers to key questions including the prohibition of child labor, the prohibition of forced labor and the payment of living wages, and identified issues that are necessary to share and to reconfirm with suppliers. As a result of this survey, the Sustainability Management Division requested the business departments in charge of the supplier to reconfirm the 39 extracted companies. The department in charge explained and shared the reconfirmation of these issues with the suppliers and conducted a detailed survey of the suppliers’ responses to them.

As a result, it was determined that the reconfirmed issues were being addressed by each supplier, and no requests for corrective actions were made to suppliers in FY2025. Through this survey, suppliers actively report issues and engage with the business department involved. When a problem is identified, suppliers are requested to take corrective actions, thereby encouraging them to make efforts to correct the issue.

If it is judged that correction is difficult despite ongoing requests, we will reconsider our business with the relevant supplier, including regarding the continuation of the contract.

ESG Risk Assessment for New Business Investment Projects

It is compulsory in new business investment projects for the division making the application to use the ESG Checklist for Investments to evaluate the project in advance (perform due diligence). The division making the application looks at whether policies and structures have been established from the perspective of ESG. It also looks for the risk of a significant adverse effect on the environment, violation of laws and ordinances, and complaints from stakeholders. This checklist consists of check items that include elements of the seven core subjects^* in ISO26000 — the CSR international guidelines.
The division making the application also then refers to review opinions based on risk analysis from relevant functional divisions (management divisions). If there are any concerns, it requests additional due diligence from external specialist organizations for matters requiring a professional point of view. The project is then only undertaken upon confirming that there are no problems in those results.

• Organizational governance, human rights, labor practices, the environment, fair operating practices, consumer issues, and community involvement and development

ESG Risk Assessment for the Existing Business (Group Company Fact-finding Investigations)

We have continued to conduct on-site visits and surveys in group companies since 2001 to prevent environmental pollution and risk assessment of labor practice. We have conducted investigations into a total of 307 offices in the world as of the end of March 2026.
These investigations inspect the factory and warehouse facilities, the situation of drainage to rivers, the environmental law and regulation compliance situation, labor practice, labor safety and human rights, and communication with the local community in addition to holding a question and answer session with management. We identify problems or demonstrate preventative measures. We then check to see whether the situation has been corrected.

Visit and Survey Report: DOLE PHILIPPINES Fact-finding Investigation

We visited and surveyed DOLE PHILIPPINES, a company which produces banana, pineapple and other fresh fruits and manufactures canned fruit in the Philippines, in January 2020. We performed a detailed check concerning the environment and labor safety related risk management and legal compliance situation (e.g., soil pollution, waste, chemical substance management and safety measures) based on the findings of external experts well-versed in the local laws and regulations. We confirmed that these matters are being appropriately managed. In addition, we confirmed that the company is proactively working on activities that contribute to society and the environment (e.g., biomass boiler on its premises and donations to local schools).