Kirin Holdings, the Japanese beverage conglomerate with annual revenues exceeding JPY 2 trillion, has designated Janata Sadat as the exclusive jute sacking supplier for its Bangladesh beverage and brewing operations following an eight-month supplier qualification process that assessed quality management systems, social compliance, and environmental performance against the Kirin Group Global Procurement Standard.
The supply agreement, effective from October 2023, covers custom-printed hessian sacks for raw material handling and secondary packaging at Kirin's Dhaka and Chattogram facilities, with an initial annual volume of 180,000 units. Sacks are manufactured to Kirin's proprietary specification — incorporating a custom-laminated inner barrier layer and laser-engraved batch codes — at Janata Sadat's Narsingdi bag-making unit.
Kirin Qualification Process
- 018-month supplier audit spanning 4 assessment visits and 2 unannounced inspections
- 02Social audit conducted to SMETA 4-Pillar standard by Elevate (formerly ELEVATE)
- 03Environmental assessment cross-referenced against Kirin's Eco-First commitments
- 04Product qualification: 24 prototype batches, 3 field trials at Dhaka facility
- 05ISO 9001:2015 and BSCI certificates required — both held by Janata Sadat
- 06Exclusive designation covers Bangladesh operations; review in 36 months
“Being chosen by a company of Kirin's calibre — after the kind of rigorous qualification process they apply — is a validation that our quality and compliance standards are genuinely world-class. This partnership opens a category of global FMCG clients that we are very deliberately pursuing.”
The Kirin agreement is the latest in a series of Japanese supply chain partnerships pursued by Janata Sadat since 2021, reflecting growing Japanese corporate interest in natural-fibre packaging as part of their domestic plastic reduction commitments under Japan's Plastic Resource Circulation Act. The company anticipates further enquiries from Japanese FMCG and retail companies ahead of the Act's expanded provisions taking effect in April 2025.
