India: Online grocery space losing shine as more people turn to offline fruit & vegetable purchases
Of the 12,207 people surveyed, only 7% favor purchases of online fruits and vegetables, while 66% prefer local or weekly markets, according to a survey by community media platform LocalCircles.
Source: inc42.com
Ireland: Tesco opens in Cherrywood
Tesco Ireland has opened the doors of a new Tesco Express store at Cherrywood, South Dublin. Managed by Dónal Fitzgerald, at just over 3,000 square feet and conveniently located close to the Cherrywood/Bride’s Glen Luas stop, the new store promises customers a modern retail experience and a wide selection of quality fresh and Irish produce.
Source: tescoireland.ie
Austria: BILLA to open dedicated plant-based area in 21 stores
Austrian supermarket chain BILLA has opened a new superstore featuring an area called “PFLANZILLA Welt” (PFLANZILLA World), which is dedicated entirely to plant-based products. The chain has also revealed that a further 20 of these areas are set to open in other stores across the country.
Source: vegconomist.com
Bulgarian food market update: Price fluctuations this week
The State Commission for Commodity Exchanges and Wholesale Markets reported minor fluctuations in wholesale food prices in Bulgaria for the fourth week of November. Greenhouse cucumbers spiked by 22.9%, trading at BGN3.33 per kilo. Conversely, oranges saw a 16.4% price drop, now standing at BGN2.40 per kilo. Among other notable changes, tomatoes fell by 7.2%, trading at BGN3.23 per kilo, while potatoes experienced a mild 0.8% decrease to BGN1.28 per kilo. Carrots surged by 6.2%, reaching BGN1.03 per kilo. The trend continued across multiple items: red peppers rose by 8.1% to BGN2.27 per kilo, while bananas increased by 3.5% to BGN2.96 per kilo.
Source: novinite.com
UK: Leicester Market traders to move out of historic stalls
Traders of a historic market will move to a temporary base to make way for a £7.5mln revamp. The refurb of the Leicester market is due to begin in January, with work to be completed by December 2024. The city council said stall-holders selling birthday cards, fabrics, shoes and handbags were due to vacate on Saturday, while fruit and veg sellers would continue trading until Wednesday. All traders will be based at Green Dragon Square starting Thursday.
Source: bbc.com
UK: Tesco backs ban on plastic fruit and veg packaging
Tesco has backed calls for the government to place a ban on plastic packaging for fruit and veg, arguing it would create a “level playing field.” A Tesco spokesperson told The Grocer the supermarket would embrace “effective government intervention on produce packaging removal.”
Source: grocerygazette.co.uk
UK: Agrovista fruit agronomist, now a LEAF-endorsed consultant
Alex Radu, technical manager at Agrovista Fruit, has recently become a LEAF-endorsed consultant and is recommended by the organization to provide accurate, up-to-date advice on sustainable farming through integrated farm management and the LEAF Marque.
Source: agrovista.co.uk
RPSG Group's Nature's Basket adds luxury food retailing to its cart
From white strawberries of Japan to sea asparagus from Holland, the RP-Sanjiv Goenka Group’s Nature’s Basket is stepping into luxury food retailing with large-format artisanal experiential stores modeled on Harrods Food Hall in London.
Source: business-standard.com
UK: The State of the Nation's Food Industry report 2023
The Food Foundation reported: "The State of the Nation’s Food Industry report shines a light on the major retailers and Out of Home businesses within the UK and what steps, if any, they are taking to help us shift towards a more healthy and sustainable diet."
Source: foodfoundation.org.uk
Australia: When will vegetables get cheaper? Now, actually.
“Some of the highlights across categories of vegetables include tomatoes, sweetcorn, and capsicums (all down by 20%, on average, compared to last year)”, Woolworths said. “While for fruit, blueberries and avocados as a whole are down an average of 35% compared to last year. Looking ahead, summer fruits - including cherries and stone fruit - are set to be in abundance, which means better pricing. Mangoes are also currently great value, starting from $2.50 for Calypso mangoes from Wednesday”. Coles said it had also been able to reduce the price of vegetables with deflation, including corn (-37%), capsicum and zucchini (both -30%) and eggplant (-20%). “Our stonefruit and cherry season is looking very strong with this week's forecasted wet weather the watch out,” the Coles spokeswoman told Yahoo Finance.
Source: au.finance.yahoo.com
Singapore: FairPrice Group to absorb GST hike for 500 essential items in first six months of 2024
Supermarket chain FairPrice will absorb the upcoming 1 percentage point increase in GST for some daily essentials for the first half of 2024, in what the company said was an effort to cushion the tax hike’s impact on consumers. The scheme will offset the tax hike on 500 essential items, including rice, fresh fruit and vegetables, and toilet paper.
Source: straitstimes.com
France's Casino confirms it has received offers for stores
Heavily indebted French supermarket group Casino has received expressions of interest for its hypermarket and supermarket stores, the company said, declining to name the bidders or number of stores it intends to sell. Casino has been preparing to sell more supermarkets to Intermarche, a unit of Groupement Les Mousquetaires, or even put its remaining stores for sale to the highest bidder, French daily Les Echos reported.
Source: reuters.com
Holland: Albert Heijn adopts Avantium PEF for own-brand juice bottles
Avantium is supplying its plant-based PEF material to Refresco for use in Albert Heijn’s fruit juice bottles, with the retailer claiming to be the first supermarket chain in the world to adopt the material for own-brand products.
Source: packagingeurope.com
US: SpartanNash Foundation fundraiser helps provide over 158,000 meals this holiday season
Food solutions company SpartanNash (the "Company") and SpartanNash Foundation are proud to announce the success of their seventh annual in-store fundraiser supporting food pantries across the Midwest.
Source: prnewswire.com
US: Dollar General grocery store DG Market opens at The Mill at Easton
A new kind of Dollar General store has opened up in the South Side of Easton. DG Market features a standard grocer format that serves meats, fruits, and vegetables but also offers traditional dollar-store fare.
Source: lehighvalleylive.com