UK retailer Tesco has been recognised by the South African stone fruit sector for its strong performance and promotional support during the 2019-20 season. South African growers’ association Hortgro presents the Stone Fruit Retailer of the Year prize to a UK supermarket each year. According to a statement by Hortgro, Tesco saw a noticeable increase in sales this season, with the retailer selling over three million kilos of South African stone fruit across its stores, with nectarines faring particularly well. 

UK retailer Asda has announced is to dispense with plastic bags for loose fruit and veg bags at nine of its UK stores. The trial began on 7th September and could save around 141 tons of plastic a year, the equivalent of over 3.5 million bags. To replace plastic bags, Asda is offering ‘Veggio’ bags, which cost 30p each. Similar projects have recently been launched at Morrisons and Sainsbury’s.

The Coviran Cooperative has opened a supermarket under a new concept in the Granada town of Almuñécar. Supermercados Cotobro is the commercial name of the establishment and is a modern and innovative supermarket that accredits the store as a “Responsible Point of Sale”.

Auchan France has laid out its plans to implement the key initiatives established in the 2022 transformation plan. According to Auchan Retail France’s chief executive, Jean-Denis Deweine, the retailer is to focus on five strategic priorities:

• Improve the offer: with more focus on local and exclusive or artisanal products and private labels

• Update its hypermarkets

China's largest retailer, Sun Art Group, has opened its first RT-Mart Super. Located in Changzhou. this is RT-Mart's first medium-sized store. With a sales area of 3,900 m2, the store carries more than 1,500 SKUs, covering main categories such as fresh, dairy, chilled, ambient as well as general merchandise products. The group is actively seeking ways to lessen its reliance on hypermarkets, as China’s consumers gravitate towards smaller and more compact stores, partially driven by China’s urbanisation.

A typhoon-hit summer has driven up vegetable prices in South Korea, as the country prepares for the Chuseok festival in autumn. JoongAng Daily reports that the prices of various kinds of vegetable have risen sharply. According to Korea Price Information data, the cost of offerings to ancestors at the Chuseok festival currently stand at around US$228 at a traditional market, up 15.5% from 2019. The price rises in supermarkets is even more pronounced, with average cost of offerings going up by 24.7%.

Reliance Industries is offering to sell a US$20 billion stake in its retail business to Amazon.com Inc., according to a report by Gulfnews. Amazon has held discussions about investing in the conglomerate's Reliance Retail Ventures Ltd. unit and has expressed interest in negotiating a potential transaction. Mumbai-based Reliance Industries, owned by Indian billionaire Mukesh Ambani is willing to sell as much as a 40% stake in the subsidiary to Amazon.

UK retailer Morrisons has given a stark warning to the country’s government and consumers to expect higher food bills if no trade deal is signed between the UK and the EU. 

© X5 Group
PRESS RELEASE

The retailer Perekrestok, part of X5 Retail Group (Russia), opened its 900^th supermarket. It is located in Tyumen (Ural region). The design of the store comprises the departments of ready-to-eat and ready-to-go produces; there is a zone for healthy life style merchandise. Half of the supermarkets’ area is reserved for fresh category goods. The assortment includes 17,000 SKU.

Perekrestok has recently considerably expanded its penetration into Ural Federal region; 18 supermarkets were open in June and July.

© Eurofresh Distribution

Sales of organic produce have surged in the wake of the Covid-19 crisis, according to data published by Waitrose. During lockdown, the UK retailer registered a 13% rise in organic food sales, and a doubling in searches for its Organic Duchy range during the period. In recent months, sales of organic vegetables are up 23% from the same period in 2019, with 52 bags of organic carrots, 34 blueberry punnets and 39 bags of bananas sold every hour.