As we all live in unprecedented times, Silva is grateful for our staff, customers, and raw material partners. Our priority is to mitigate the risks related to COVID-19, while continuing to serve all of our customer needs.
With our global reach in sourcing raw materials, which allows us to supply our diverse customer base through our finished goods processing in the U.S., our supply chain has been put to the test as we have adjusted for the differing global responses to COVID-19.
Activities Fully Resume in China
We were very pleased to see our staff in China able to return to normal working routines during the month of April. While China was the first country affected by any restrictions or lockdowns, we saw a gradual return to normal during March and early April. The Silva-China team has now resumed all normal activities in this region. That includes spring and summer crop/field preparation, inspecting cargoes, and supporting our partners at a facility level with processing and quality management system development. Spring season is still underway, but we remain optimistic that the current pandemic in this area will only have minor effects on the quality and overall availability of raw material.
Working to Ensure Supply in Europe
As Europe started to see increasing COVID-19 restrictions starting in mid-March, we have been working together with our individual supply partners in Europe to ensure stable supply and also a successful spring harvest of spinach, green garden peas, and other vegetables. Conditions have been unusually dry in many parts of continental Europe and is negatively impacting our fresh material availability and yields. We remain well-diversified and optimistic, yet adverse conditions in the fields increases pressure on both availability and costing.
Continuing to Expand Our Capabilities
The continued challenges presented by the current pandemic has allowed Silva to leverage our business model for the benefit of our customer base. Our U.S. based processing, healthy inventories, global quality team reach, and a globally diverse and strong raw material base has allowed us to provide our customers with uninterrupted supply of the highest quality ingredients.
Our global raw material diversification and development continues, despite challenging conditions around the world. Our Silva-China team returned to work from COVID-19 restrictions most recently inspecting equipment manufactured for our partners in Kenya. This is a new raw material development project we’ve been working on for a few years now. Silva continues to invest in our current and future supply chain—leveraging our experience in dehydrates across the globe, with selected partners and the full support of the Silva global supply chain team.
In the face of adversity, we look close to home, ensuring we apply current best practices in our plants and offices has been the highest priority. Safety at our facilities in Illinois and the health of our workforce is of paramount importance to us, ensuring our customers continue finding confidence in the Silva process.