A report from SITPRO, published today, has highlighted that paperwork for the perishable food supply chain is costing over £1 billion per annum, over £700 million of which could be saved with electronic processes.
Many issues have been identified. The report estimates up to 1.4 million incidents of missing or delayed documents in a single year for perishable foods imports into the UK alone. These result in additional costs from securing replacements or amendments, as well as costs that delays can exact in terms of additional spoiled food. It finds that nearly a third of all trade data is re-keyed, creating inefficiencies and risking discrepancies that could be avoided with paperless trading. It also identifies an environmental cost in the form of destroyed paper documents. One billion pieces of paper are produced each year by this supply chain of which over 90% are destroyed. A considerable volume of this paper is coated with chemicals to create non-carbon reproducing (NCR) copies and is non-recyclable.
SITPRO's Chief Executive, Malcolm McKinnon, said, "This research presents a clear opportunity for the perishable foods industry. However, the problems identified in this sector can be found in many other industries. Having worked with government departments and the grocery industry to confirm the robustness of these results, we are now working with some key people in the industry to address the issues identified. If we get this right, there are huge opportunities to enable both developing and developed countries to benefit from the efficiency gains that are available and trade more effectively. This would represent a classic win-win opportunity for everyone."
The 'Project Hermes' report recommends the use of straight-through processing (STP) techniques, a term which refers to the transfer of data by electronic message through all the parties in the supply chain including importers, exporters and government authorities. It also recommends the use of open international standards for data and messaging. SITPRO has long supported such standards and its work on the UNeDocs project within UN/CEFACT and on its national implementation, UNeDocsUK, are a vital step towards providing interoperability throughout the supply chain.
The full report, The Cost of Paper in the Supply Chain: "Project Hermes" Perishable Foods Sector Research Report, is available upon request from SITPRO or to download from www.sitpro.org.uk/reports/hermes.pdf.
Notes for Editors
SITPRO, the UK's Trade Facilitation Agency, was established in 1970 to simplify international trade and much of its work has focussed upon improving the procedures at ports and borders, looking at issues such as improving the arrangements for inspecting goods at the border and streamlining the submission of data to government.
SITPRO is a non-departmental public body funded by the Department for Business Enterprise and Regulatory Reform and undertakes policy work at national, European and international levels. For further information visit SITPRO's website at http://www.sitpro.org.uk/.
SITPRO News Release - 28 July 2008
Return to SITPRO News: News Releases
