Produce buyer vs procurement agent

The differences between produce buyers and procurement agents can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. While it typically takes More than 10 years to become a produce buyer, becoming a procurement agent takes usually requires 4-6 years. Additionally, a procurement agent has an average salary of $72,384, which is higher than the $55,778 average annual salary of a produce buyer.

The top three skills for a produce buyer include purchase orders, logistics and inventory control. The most important skills for a procurement agent are supply chain, strategic sourcing, and supplier performance.

Produce buyer vs procurement agent overview

	Produce Buyer	Procurement Agent
Yearly salary	$55,778	$72,384
Hourly rate	$26.82	$34.80
Growth rate	-	11%
Number of jobs	17,664	45,198
Job satisfaction	-	2
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 69%	Bachelor's Degree, 69%
Average age	47	48
Years of experience	-	6

What does a produce buyer do?

Being a produce buyer requires commercial awareness, confidence, the ability to be a team player, interpersonal, math, and IT skills, as well as the ability to cope with high pressure. This position will demand negotiation and collaboration with produce suppliers in promoting, pricing, and advertising products. You will also be the primary contact between stores and suppliers, and also be responsible for maintaining supply quality through determining the best sources of produce.

What does a procurement agent do?

A procurement agent develops profitable measures to save the client money and ensure the quality of goods supplied. Procurement agents obtain the purchased items through suppliers, monitor them, and expedite the orders. They oversee the activities and performance of the suppliers for compliance. Their duties include the verification of item receipts, resolving shipment-related problems, and authorizing purchase payments through documentation. The necessary skills for this job include being accomplished, decisive, and strong communication skills.

Produce buyer vs procurement agent salary

Produce buyers and procurement agents have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Produce Buyer	Procurement Agent
Average salary	$55,778	$72,384
Salary range	Between $40,000 And $77,000	Between $49,000 And $106,000
Highest paying City	-	Richmond, CA
Highest paying state	-	New Jersey
Best paying company	-	McKinsey & Company Inc
Best paying industry	-	Technology

Differences between produce buyer and procurement agent education

There are a few differences between a produce buyer and a procurement agent in terms of educational background:

	Produce Buyer	Procurement Agent
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 69%	Bachelor's Degree, 69%
Most common major	Business	Business
Most common college	California State University - Bakersfield	University of Pennsylvania

Produce buyer vs procurement agent demographics

Here are the differences between produce buyers' and procurement agents' demographics:

	Produce Buyer	Procurement Agent
Average age	47	48
Gender ratio	Male, 77.3% Female, 22.7%	Male, 51.4% Female, 48.6%
Race ratio	Black or African American, 3.7% Unknown, 3.1% Hispanic or Latino, 10.2% Asian, 6.6% White, 75.5% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.8%	Black or African American, 8.8% Unknown, 4.4% Hispanic or Latino, 12.2% Asian, 7.6% White, 66.2% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.8%
LGBT Percentage	15%	7%

Differences between produce buyer and procurement agent duties and responsibilities

Produce buyer example responsibilities.

Analyze and manage goals for increasing sales, profit margins, turns, fill rate and manage logistics.
Manage open-to-buy to ensure continual flow of merchandise to stores and warehouses with careful attention to advertise events and promotions.
Coordinate with transportation department to ensure efficiency in logistics of transporting employees and products using company vehicles.
Manage open-to-buy to ensure continual flow of merchandise to stores and warehouses with careful attention to advertise events and promotions.
Track all incoming requests for quote (RFQ) from customers, sales managers, and outside sales representatives.
Review purchase requisitions and engineering specifications to determine which suppliers to RFQ.

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Procurement agent example responsibilities.

Achieve $200k cost savings buy locating excess material from OEM.
Manage project size OEM bills of material from supplier negotiation through final invoice.
Monitor and manage cost of components for bill of material (BOM), schedule lead times and performance with budgets.
Prepare strategic commodity business plans for globally manage commodities, performing spend analysis, and identifying part cost drivers.
Process purchase requisitions to POs for different commodities for MCI s end-user community.
Perform category spend analysis of indirect spend for hotel expenses to determine hotel candidates for 2010 RFP corporate rate negotiations.

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Produce buyer vs procurement agent skills

Common produce buyer skills

Purchase Orders, 12%
Logistics, 11%
Inventory Control, 10%
Quality Standards, 10%
Manage Inventory, 8%
Product Knowledge, 8%

Common procurement agent skills

Supply Chain, 15%
Strategic Sourcing, 6%
Supplier Performance, 6%
Customer Service, 5%
Inventory Control, 4%
Purchase Orders, 4%

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Updated January 8, 2025

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