Continental Commits to Sustainability in Natural Rubber Supply Chain with HeveaConnect

• With immediate effect, Continental will handle part of its natural rubber purchasing via HeveaConnect's digital trading platform which ensures greater transparency and sustainability in the natural rubber supply chain

SINGAPORE, Dec. 17, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- With immediate effect, the premium tire manufacturer Continental will handle part of its purchasing of natural rubber through a digital trading platform designed to ensure greater transparency and sustainability in the natural rubber supply chain.

"Our goal is to procure all materials from responsible sources. The key to achieving this lies in innovative technologies and digitalization, which can make a decisive contribution to transparency in complex supply chains," says Dr. Andrea Appel, Head of Purchasing of the Tires business area at Continental. She adds: "HeveaConnect shows how digital platforms enable solid analyses of complex supply chains as well as their targeted management. Ecological, social and financial risks are made equally transparent for all market participants."

The HeveaConnect platform validates key aspects of a sustainable supply chain and ensures compliance through transparency and special offers. Platform participants are provided with a dashboard showing standardized information on quality, traceability, and compliance with social and environmental standards, as well as information on average selling prices. In addition, Continental can use the platform to call up offers from rubber suppliers in real time, compare and negotiate them, conclude short- or long-term supply contracts and document them electronically.

Consulting services with special conditions that demonstrably adhere to certain minimum standards are made available to natural rubber producers via HeveaConnect. For example, it is possible to integrate results from analyses carried out by Rubberway, a sustainability risk analysis joint venture between Continental and Michelin.

"Our platform aims to make trading in physical natural rubber more efficient, transparent and provide buyers with key sustainability focused data to make better procurement decisions. We create data-backed rubber by pairing the sustainability information with the physical rubber product that is traded on our platform. Continental has long been committed to sustainable supply chains and we are delighted to have them join HeveaConnect. Through the engagement of Continental and other industry players on our trading platform, we are one step closer to creating data-backed physical indices. With the help of the Singapore Exchange (SGX), we thus aim to complement the SICOM benchmark, the global price index for natural rubber, with an index with greater price granularity", explains Gerald Tan, CEO of HeveaConnect.

Continental develops pioneering technologies and services for sustainable and connected mobility of people and their goods. Founded in 1871, the technology company offers safe, efficient, intelligent and affordable solutions for vehicles, machines, traffic and transportation. In 2020, Continental generated sales of €37.7 billion and currently employs more than 192,000 people in 58 countries and markets. On October 8, 2021, the company celebrated its 150th anniversary.

HeveaConnect is a Singapore-based technology company that provides solutions to solve digitalization and sustainability challenges in the agri-commodities sector. HeveaConnect allows companies to integrate traceability and sustainability into the procurement decision process through data-backed commodities, providing greater visibility over their supply chains and uncover sustainability risks. Since its inception in 2018, over 400,000 metric tons of natural rubber worth over USD 550 million has been transacted through the HeveaConnect Platform. HeveaConnect is a strong believer in sustainability and works extensively with various conservation organizations to develop solutions and programs that address these issues.

Contact for journalists:

Henry Schniewind
Head of External Communications
Continental Tires business area
Phone: +49 511 938-21810
E-Mail: henry.schniewind@conti.de

Eric Pratama Kurniawan
Head of Commercial
HeveaConnect Pte Ltd
E-Mail: eric.kurniawan@heveaconnect.com

Press portal:   www.continental-press.com
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