Privacy Policy

1. About this notice

IBS Agro Trading Limited (“IBS Agro”, “we”, “us”, “our”) respects the privacy of everyone who deals with us. This notice explains what personal information we collect through www.ibsagro.co.tz, why we collect it, who we share it with, how long we keep it and what choices you have.

We are an agricultural commodity trading business and our website is aimed at businesses — buyers, distributors, farmers, suppliers, service providers and jobseekers. We do not sell to consumers online and we do not take payments through this website.

This notice covers the website only. Where we deal with you under a supply contract, additional privacy terms may be set out in that contract.

2. Who is responsible for your information

IBS Agro Trading Limited decides how and why the personal information described in this notice is used, and is therefore responsible for it. Our contact details are:

Company: IBS Agro Trading Limited
Location: Mbeya, Tanzania
Email: info@ibsagro.co.tz
Telephone: +255 772 085 785

Privacy enquiries should be addressed to the person responsible for data protection, using the details above. The company will confirm a dedicated contact point when this notice is approved.

3. Information we collect

We only ask for information we actually need in order to respond to you and to trade properly. Depending on how you use the site, this may include:

Identity and contact details — your name, job title, employer or business name, country, email address, telephone or WhatsApp number.
Enquiry and quotation details — the commodity, grade, specification, volume, packaging, destination port or delivery location, preferred Incoterm, target shipment period and any notes you add. This may include commercial information about your own business.
Supplier and farmer registration details — the crops you produce or trade, growing region, indicative volumes, storage and transport capability, and the business or cooperative you represent.
Recruitment details — where you write to us about a role, the contents of your message and any curriculum vitae or supporting documents you choose to send.
Correspondence — records of emails, calls, messages and meetings relating to your enquiry or our trading relationship.
Technical and usage information — internet protocol address, device and browser type, referring page, pages viewed and approximate location derived from your network address. Where analytics are used, this is collected only with your consent (see Cookie Policy).

We do not ask for special category information (such as health, religious or political details) and you should not send it to us. Please do not include bank details, passwords or other sensitive data in a website enquiry form.

4. How we collect it

Directly from you, when you complete a form, email us, call us or message us.
Automatically, through your browser and — with your consent — analytics technologies.
From your organisation, where a colleague gives us your details as a contact for an enquiry, order or shipment.
From publicly available business sources, such as company websites and trade directories, where we are verifying a counterparty or carrying out due diligence.

5. Why we use it and on what basis

We use personal information for the following purposes:

To respond to enquiries and prepare quotations. Basis: to take steps at your request before entering into a contract, or our legitimate interest in answering a business enquiry.
To negotiate, perform and administer supply contracts — including sourcing, quality inspection, packaging, shipping, documentation and invoicing. Basis: performance of a contract, or our legitimate interest in managing the relationship where the contract is with your employer.
To register and manage farmer and supplier relationships. Basis: pre-contractual steps and legitimate interest.
To carry out counterparty checks such as identity, sanctions and creditworthiness screening where appropriate. Basis: legal obligation and legitimate interest in trading safely.
To keep accounting, tax, customs and export records. Basis: legal obligation.
To send market updates and other marketing where you have asked for them. Basis: consent, or legitimate interest in business-to-business marketing where permitted.
To measure and improve the website using analytics. Basis: your consent.
To protect the website against spam, abuse and fraudulent submissions. Basis: legitimate interest in the security of our systems.
To establish, exercise or defend legal claims. Basis: legitimate interest and legal obligation.

Where we rely on a legitimate interest, we have considered whether that interest is outweighed by your rights and freedoms. You may ask us for our assessment at any time.

6. Marketing communications

We send market and harvest updates only to people who have asked to receive them or who have an existing business relationship with us. Every marketing message contains a way to unsubscribe, and you can also opt out at any time by emailing info@ibsagro.co.tz. Opting out of marketing does not stop operational messages about a quotation, order or shipment.

We do not sell, rent or trade personal information to third parties for their own marketing.

We share personal information only where there is a clear reason to, and only with:

Service providers acting on our instructions — website hosting, email, document storage, customer relationship management and, where enabled, analytics.
Trade counterparties where necessary to fulfil your order — for example transporters, freight forwarders, shipping lines, warehouse operators, fumigation and inspection providers, insurers and banks.
Government bodies and authorities where an export, customs, phytosanitary, standards, tax or licensing process requires it.
Professional advisers — lawyers, auditors and accountants — under a duty of confidentiality.
A purchaser or successor if the business or part of it is transferred, subject to appropriate confidentiality protection.

Where a service provider processes information on our behalf, we require it to act only on our instructions and to keep the information secure and confidential.

8. International transfers

We are based in Tanzania and trade internationally. Some of the providers and counterparties described above are located outside Tanzania, so your information may be transferred to, and stored or processed in, other countries. Where that happens, we take reasonable steps to ensure the information continues to be protected to a comparable standard — for example by using contractual protections with the recipient and limiting the information transferred to what is necessary.

The specific safeguards and the countries in which our principal service providers operate will be confirmed here once this notice has been reviewed.

9. How long we keep it

We keep personal information only for as long as we need it for the purpose we collected it for, and then for any period we are required to keep records:

Enquiries that do not lead to business — kept for a limited period so we can follow up, then deleted or anonymised.
Customer, supplier and shipment records — kept for the life of the relationship and afterwards for the period required by accounting, tax, customs and limitation rules.
Marketing contacts — kept until you unsubscribe, and then a minimal record so we can honour your opt-out.
Analytics data — kept for the retention period configured in the analytics tool, and only where you have consented.

Specific retention periods will be confirmed here on approval of this notice.

10. How we protect it

We use reasonable technical and organisational measures appropriate to the sensitivity of the information — including encrypted connections to this website, access controls, limiting access to staff who need it, and confidentiality obligations for staff and providers. No website or email system can be guaranteed completely secure, so please do not send confidential commercial or financial information through a web form.

If a security incident affects your personal information and is likely to cause you harm, we will act promptly to contain it and will notify you and any authority we are required to notify.

11. Your rights

Subject to the law that applies to you, you may have the right to ask us to do any of the following:

confirm whether we hold information about you, and give you a copy of it;
correct information that is inaccurate or incomplete;
delete information we no longer have a good reason to keep;
restrict or object to how we use it, including for direct marketing;
provide certain information you gave us in a portable, machine-readable format, or transfer it to another organisation; and
withdraw a consent you previously gave, without affecting anything done before.

To exercise any of these, email info@ibsagro.co.tz. We may ask you to verify your identity before we act, and we will respond within the period required by the applicable law. There is normally no charge.

12. Cookies and similar technologies

This website uses a small number of storage technologies to remember your language and cookie choices, and — only if you accept — analytics that help us understand how the site is used. Full details, and how to change your choice at any time, are in our Cookie Policy.

13. Third-party websites

Our site links to other websites, including social media profiles, map providers and industry bodies. We are not responsible for their content or their privacy practices. Please read the privacy notice of any site you visit from ours.

14. Children

This website is intended for business users and is not directed at children. We do not knowingly collect information from children. If you believe a child has provided us with personal information, contact us and we will delete it.

15. Changes to this notice

We may update this notice as our business, our systems or the law change. The current version is always the one published on this page, and the “last updated” date at the top shows when it last changed. Where a change materially affects how we use your information, we will take reasonable steps to bring it to your attention.

16. Contacting us and raising a concern

If you have a question about this notice, or you are unhappy with how we have handled your information, please contact us first — we would like the chance to put it right:

If you remain dissatisfied, you may be entitled to complain to the data protection authority responsible for your country. We will co-operate fully with any such authority.