IFEATWORLD July 2022

WORLD 11
Sergio Sepiurka was born in Buenos
Aires in 1958. He is an industrial
engineer and has lived in Esquel,
(Patagonia, Argentina) for more than
three decades. He founded Hierbas
Patagónicas SRL in 1997. The company
has produced and marketed essential
oils worldwide since 2000. He has
spoken at a number of conferences
and events and is author of several
books about Patagonia.
JONPAUL HOWARTH
“Supply Chains in Troubled Times”
Essential oil
supply patterns
are typically
seasonal or so
we would like
to think, but
what happens
when after
all that forecasting and financial
planning something outside our
control impacts those plans? We have
always had acts of “Mother Nature”
which have disrupted supplies, but
now more than ever ‘unseasonal’
and ‘extreme’ weather patterns are
becoming more the usual than the
unusual. Post-COVID recovery has
disrupted demand patterns in an
unprecedented way and geopolitical
manoeuvring between the ‘West’
and the ‘Rest’ has all but stopped the
movement of some goods and the
access to financial and global markets
for many farmers.
Written to support a buyer’s
understanding of the products they
purchase, this presentation touches
on the impact of some of these recent
global events that have disrupted
supplies and raised prices. Jonpaul
will analyse what’s next for those
farmers and producers caught up in
the aftermath and the future of the
essential oils at the heart of these
events.
For 24 years Jonpaul has been working
with growers, producers, and resellers
of essential oils through various
roles based in the UK, Australia, and
Ukraine. Having experienced various
commercial roles at a senior level,
Jonpaul moved to Australia in 2009
and to Ukraine in 2013, where relations
and understandings with farmers
developed along with a passion for
trying to shorten supply chains and
bring end users closer to the origins of
the essential oils they buy.
Initially through marketing native
Australian essential oils, to establishing
a leading industry market report, this
was followed by the creation of his own
business to serve the marketing needs
of emerging essential oil producers.
Drawing on the insights gained from
his experience, Jonpaul continues to
support the supply chain through his
business Jandico Limited and advocate
transparency in the supply chain.
ROUNDTABLE:
“Certifications: A Major Step
Forward or Extra Burden & Cost?”
Moderated by Dominique Roques
and Peter Greenhalgh
IFEAT will
continue
its regular
roundtable series
which began in
Athens in 2017.
The roundtable
will take place
on Wednesday
afternoon
at the
Conference.
Producers in
our industry are
experiencing the
rising tide of certification expectations
from the market for their factories and
supply chains.
Where do we stand in terms of
relevance, workload and cost versus
benefit? Are we moving towards a few
labels taking recognised leadership?
The roundtable is for in-person
Vancouver Conference delegates but
will be on a “first come first served
basis” with sign-up during the morning
and is limited to 50 participants. The
roundtable will be free of charge.
MEET THE IFEAT 2022 VANCOUVER CONFERENCE SPEAKERS