Morrisons looking for the best local food

SA: Woolworths confirms more local sourcing -
Woolworths has turned its focus to sourcing goods from SA and the Southern African Development Community (SADC), a move that CEO, Ian Moir, says has been good for business. (bizcommunity.com)

Carrefour takes legal action against Lidl France
French retailer Carrefour is reportedly taking legal action against discounter Lidl, over what it says are unfair commercial practices. According to Challenges, Carrefour is taking an action in the Commercial Court of Evry against Lidl for not adhering to regulations regarding the promotion of products. These state that promoted products should be available in all stores for a minimum of 15 weeks. (esmmagazine.com)

Southeastern Grocers launches private-label transformation
Southeastern Grocers, which operates the Bi-Lo, Fresco y Más, Harveys and Winn-Dixie banners, announced Thursday that it will be transforming its private label brand in its largest-ever undertaking, which will encompass some 3,000 items across categories throughout each banner. (drugstorenews.com)

Morrisons supermarket looking for the best local food
Morrisons is starting a search for the best local food producers who can help to feed the nation, as a new report calls for the UK to be more self-sufficient in food production and new consumer research shows a growing appetite from British shoppers for more local food. ‘The Nation’s Local Foodmakers’ will see Morrisons recruit more than 200 new suppliers from across England, Scotland and Wales in the first year. (internationalsupermarketnews.com)

Russian retailer Lenta's expansion cost RUB 54.3bn
Russian retailer Lenta announced that its year of rapid expansion, which saw it add 51 hypermarkets and 17 supermarkets, cost the company RUB 54.3bn (€892m), with SG&A costs accounting for 15.2% of sales. Like-for-like growth for the 2016 financial year was 3.9%, with total sales for the year growing 21.2% to RUB 306.4bn (€5bn). (esmmagazine.com)

Aldi still thriving in UK, despite rivals' claims, says CEO
Aldi is widening a price gap with rivals in Britain and is still delivering underlying sales growth there, the head of its UK business told Reuters, denying the discount supermarket was suffering from the effects of a fightback by bigger chains. When you look at any price comparisons or our own internal data it shows us that, if anything, the price differential between Aldi and the big four is growing at the moment," he said in an interview at Aldi's headquarters at Atherstone, central England. (Reuters)

US Foods Agrees to Acquire All American Foods
US Foods has agreed to acquire All American Foods, a broadline distributor based in North Kingstown, R.I., with annual sales of nearly $60m. All American Foods was established in 1988 and has grown to offer more than 4,000 SKUs to nearly 1,000 customers throughout Rhode Island, Massachusetts and Connecticut. (groceryheadquarters.com)

RT-Mart up on rumors of potential Alibaba takeover
Chinese media reports have recently claimed that Alibaba group planned to acquire the mainland division of supermarket chain RT-Mart, which is operated by Taiwan-based Ruentex Group. The Chinese e-commerce giant declined to make any comments regarding the alleged acquisition. A spokesperson for RT-Mart's parent group in Taiwan said they were not aware of Alibaba's intentions to acquire the mainland RT-Mart. (chinapost.com.tw)

Russian retailer Lenta remains cautious after tough H2
Russian food retailer Lenta reported a 9% rise in annual net profit on Thursday but warned a slower second half pointed to further margin pressure in 2017 as consumers' budgets remain tight. Despite signs of a recovery in the Russian economy due to a rise in oil prices, private consumption, the biggest driver, has yet to pick up. Lenta reported a 9% rise in net profit to 11.2bn roubles ($196m) but noted its second-half performance fell by 6% to 6.9bn roubles. (Reuters)

David Jones looks to more private label food products
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Ireland: Mandate welcomes Tesco agreement to enter talks
The Mandate trade union has welcomed Tesco's agreement to enter talks "without prejudice" with a view to settling the current dispute over contracts for long-serving workers hired before 1996. Tesco management wrote to Mandate agreeing to talks in a bid to resolve the row. It is understood a meeting will be set up in the coming days. Mandate members at eight Tesco stores began an indefinite strike on Tuesday, and a further eight stores are due to join the strike tomorrow. 23 stores will be balloted for strike action from Monday. (rte.ie)

Will Lidl's plans to conquer the US market benefit consumers as much as Walmart did?
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