Artificial intelligence is changing procurement practices in agri-food and consumer products, but adoption should begin with a clear business need, not the technology itself, Filippo Manca and Juho Majamaa, both at AlixPartners’ Consumer Products and Procurement Transformation Practice, explained during Expana’s Agri-Food Europe 2026 conference in Amsterdam. They outlined how AI is being used to tackle persistent procurement issues while urging companies to focus on the problems they want to solve.
Commodity price volatility remains one of the most pressing challenges. Manca cited sulfur, used in fertilizer production, as an example. Supply has fallen due to oil refinery closures, while demand has risen from semiconductor producers using sulfur in chip manufacturing. Prices jumped from $150 per ton to over $500 per ton in about a year, creating difficult conditions for category managers.
AI solutions now range from supplier research and spend analysis to bid evaluation and contract management. Generative AI enables faster supplier identification, and contract analysis tools highlight compliance gaps across large sets of documents, they said. For example, the company worked on a case where AI mapping of a pet food producer’s supply chain revealed single-source risks and direct-buy opportunities worth 5% to 20% in savings over three months, Manca said.
However, data integrity remains essential. Organizations should start with defined priorities and select tools accordingly, they concluded.
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Written by Thess Mostoles
