More Belgian products through local anchoring

As the only Belgian retailer, we offer as many local products as possible on our store shelves. How do we ensure such local anchoring? We buy as many Belgian products as possible, work (directly) with Belgian farmers, and commit to vertical integration to keep production in Belgium.

Belgian apples from Colruyt Group and Wolfcarius

87% of our apples and pears are grown in Belgium

Belgian sourcing forms the basis for our local anchoring

Our vision: we concentrate our search on local suppliers to purchase Belgian products. Our shelves contain products from nearly 6,000 Belgian farms. We only complement these with foreign suppliers when Belgian sourcing does not meet the demands of our customers. For example, all our pork, beef, and veal is 99% Belgian, as is the chicken we sell in our stores. Our drinking milk and Boni eggs are 100% Belgian and 75% of our vegetables are grown in Belgium.

Commitment to Belgian agriculture

We continuously increase the percentage of Belgian products in our range. After all, our goal is to strengthen and anchor Belgian agriculture. How? By working directly with 600 small and large Belgian farms. In these partnerships, we make clear agreements, share the risks, and give farmers a certain level of security by offering them a permanent market. In other words, it’s a long-term collaboration. As a Belgian retail chain, we take our social responsibility seriously and want to help ensure that we still have an agricultural sector in Belgium in the future.

As part of our focus on future-oriented farming, we also jointly establish sustainable initiatives, such as on biodiversity and carbon farming for better soil quality. Thanks to innovation projects with local farmers, we can also offer more Belgian products and for longer, such as by extending the season. An example? Our Belgian melons are grown vertically by Indra De Weerdt in Sint-Katelijne-Waver. Our own sea farm has enabled us to launch aquaculture as an industry in the Belgian North Sea and we are the only retail chain to sell 100% Belgian mussels.

Gunther Uyttenhove, Director of Farming and Fine Food

We believe it is strategically important to have and develop product knowledge in house.

Focus on vertical integration

By optimising our product chain, not only can we become more cost-efficient, sustainable, and innovative, but we can also guarantee more Belgian products on our store shelves. Vertical integration allows us to keep production and processing in Belgium as much as possible. Colruyt Group Fine Food purchases raw materials and processes them into products that we then sell at Belgian supermarkets, such as our Graindor coffee. In fact, we personally produce 30% of our food products.