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Sainsbury’s to open ‘dark’ store in 2016

Sainsbury’s is shipping around 250,000 online grocery orders a week and expects that figure to keep rising.

Sainsbury’s is on track to open a dark store in London next year, says CEO Mike Coupe.

At the May 6 presentation of the UK retailer’s preliminary results for 2015, Coupe said opening the dark store – a warehouse dedicated to fulfilling online orders – is part of a build-up in online business capacity.

He said that at 7%, Sainsbury’s groceries online growth was slightly behind the market, but it was not going to chase volume for the sake of chasing volume.

“So our groceries’ online business is all about serving our customers on a day-to-day week-to-week basis, and actually it represents about an 11% growth in order numbers,” Coupe said.

About 250,000 online orders dispatched per week

Sainsbury’s is currently shipping around 250,000 orders a week and expects that figure to keep rising, he said.

“And we’re doing lots of things to continually improve the underlying proposition, whether it’s the functionality of the website, whether it’s the number of substitutions, whether it’s the underlying availability, whether it’s the quality and the freshness of the products that we sell.”

Coupe said the chain now has ‘click and collect’ in about 20 locations and will expand it to 100, including in large out-of-town superstores and some convenience sites with car parks.

“We now offer customers a green van option, so where we are coming to your street you can nominate to have a green van option, that gives you a much more environmentally-friendly and cheaper delivery.

“And we’re anticipating that in London particularly, we’ll get to the top end of our capacity over the next 12 months or so. So during the course of 2016 we do anticipate that we’ll open a ‘dark store’ in London particularly. Now we believe that the business model picking from store is the right model and we still believe that outside London we have the capacity to do that out of our large out of town superstores,” he said.

    

Source: Sainsbury’s transcript of Preliminary Results 2015 address on May 6, 2015

Read more about dark stores: Inside the supermarkets’ dark stores, The Guardian

E-commerce image: by Giralt via Pixabay (Creative Commons)

 

 

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European Commission should better protect EU banana growers, says Spanish MEP

Canary Islands politician Gabriel Mato wants the European Commission to act faster if banana imports from non-EU countries such as Peru and Colombia exceed agreed limits for a preferential customs duty.

Canary Islands politician Gabriel Mato wants the European Commission to act faster if banana imports from non-EU countries such as Peru and Colombia exceed agreed limits for a preferential customs duty.

Mato, a member of Spain’s ruling party Partido Popular, said the Commission should report to the European Parliament weekly – and not just at the end of the year – so timely action can be taken if limits are exceeded.

In a press release in Spanish, Mato said it had been noted in the Parliament’s Committee on International Trade that Peru had exceeded its limit in 2013 and 2014. He said that by the time this was reported at the end of the relevant year, it was too late to implement a safeguard clause suspending the preferential customs duty.

During a meeting of the committee in Brussels on May 6 he called for more to be done to protect EU growers. If asked, they would tell the Commission they are “in a permanent state of crisis,” he said. With the signing of an agreement with Ecuador on the horizon meaning the entry of even more bananas, action on the issue is all the more important, he said.

According to the Commission, in November 2014 it appeared that the imports into the EU of fresh bananas from Peru exceeded the relevant threshold.

However, it said, imports of fresh bananas from Peru represented only 1.9 % of the total imports of fresh bananas into the EU for January-September 2014. Also, imports of fresh bananas from other traditional importing countries, notably Colombia, Costa Rica and Panama, remained largely below the thresholds defined for them in comparable stabilisation mechanisms.

It also noted that:

  • the average wholesale banana price in the EU market in October 2014 (0.98 EUR/kg) did not register notable changes compared to banana price averages for the previous months;
  • that “there is neither an indication that the stability of the Union market has been disturbed by the imports of fresh bananas from Peru in excess of the defined annual trigger import volume, nor that this had any significant impact on the situation of Union producers” and
  • “there is no threat of serious deterioration or a serious deterioration for producers in the outermost regions of the Union.”

The Commission concluded that the suspension of preferential customs duty on imports of bananas originating in Peru would not be appropriate but said it would continue to closely monitor banana imports from Peru.
 

sources:

Gabriel Mato press release: Exigimos a la CE que proteja a los productores europeos de plátano e intervenga antes cuando la entrada de banano de terceros países supere los límites fijados

COMMISSION IMPLEMENTING DECISION of 17 December 2014 determining that the temporary suspension of the preferential customs duty established under the stabilisation mechanism for bananas of the Trade Agreement between the European Union and its Member States, of the one part, and Colombia and Peru, of the other part, is not appropriate for imports of bananas originating in Peru for the year 2014

 

 

 

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The US Pear Bureau enters Chinese market

China may become one of the 5 biggest markets for American pears.

“Russia has previously been one of our top-3 largest markets, after Canada and Mexico. Overall, our exports this season to date have decreased by just 10%,” says Lynsey Kennedy, International Marketing Manager of Pear Bureau Northwest Company (USA).

“Another challenge this season has been the growth of the dollar rate in different markets, which has increased the prices for imported products. At the same time, the sales of pears in the domestic market have been good; and we managed to successfully diversify our sales, including exports to China, which has helped balance our trade.”

Indeed, the exports to China just started in 2013, and by now, the results of sales are very positive, and Kennedy believes the country may become one of the 5 biggest markets for American pears.

Other top target markets are Colombia, India and the UAE; some small volumes are shipped to Scandinavian supermarkets, but being that the pear production is so large in Europe – as well as the abundance of fruit in the market due to the Russian ban – American fruits have been more competitive in the Asian markets and Latin America.

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Pear Bureau Northwest, established in 1931, is a non-profit marketing organisation to promote and develop markets for fresh pears grown in Oregon and Washington, distributed under the USA Pears brand. Combined, these two states comprise the nation’s largest pear producing region (84% of all fresh pears grown in the US). They also account for 92% of America’s fresh pear exports.

Pear Bureau Northwest represents 1,600 growers and 50 packers and shippers.

NB

 

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Glasshouse blackberries deliver pleasing results for Driscoll’s

Berry company Driscoll’s says taking its successful variety Driscoll’s® Victoria™ to the glasshouse has produced blackberries with exceptional taste and outstanding fruit size.

Berry company Driscoll’s says taking its successful variety Driscoll’s® Victoria™ to the glasshouse has produced blackberries that have kicked off the Dutch season with exceptional taste and outstanding fruit size.

Driscoll’s agronomy consultant Fanny Pitsioudis said the variety is the result of a unique breeding programme focused on taste, look and shelf life.

“What we discovered is that this blackberry variety performs even better in the protected environment of a glasshouse, as the berries are bigger, sweeter and juicier than before,” she said.

Driscoll’s growers Jan and Alfons Diepstraten, of the growers association Best of Four, are reaping the benefits of the glass house success and gave a hat tip to Driscoll’s for its “high quality varieties and advanced production methods.”

“Last year we already experienced how huge and sweet these blackberries are, that is why we decided to expand our production from 2 hectare to 5 hectare,” they said, adding they will be picking blackberries until December

Driscoll's growers Jan & Alfons Diepstraten.JPGDriscoll’s growers Jan and Alfons Diepstraten of growers association Best of Four

source: Driscoll’s press release

 

 

 

 

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Call for more EU help for fruit & veg sector grower organisations

The EU must do more to help fruit and vegetable farmers joining forces in so-called producer organisations to increase their competitiveness and bargaining power in the food supply chain, says the draft non-legislative resolution adopted by the Agriculture committee on Tuesday.

The EU must do more to help fruit and vegetable farmers joining forces in so-called producer organisations to increase their competitiveness and bargaining power in the food supply chain, the Euroepan Parliament’s Agriculture committee said in a draft non-legislative resolution adopted on Tuesday.

The resolution was in responce to the European Commission’s assessment of the situation in the EU’s fruit and vegetable sector since its 2007 reform.The MEPs also called on the Commission to tackle unfair trading practices and further improve the EU’s fruit and vegetable regime.

“Producer organisations must continue to be the cornerstone of the EU’s agricultural policy. The report that we adopted today stands for the encouragement of growers to organize themselves in an organisation which can enhance their bargaining power, better position them in the food chain and thus improve their incomes”, said Nuno Melo (EPP, PT), Parliament’s rapporteur.

The 2007 reform aimed to strengthen the position of fruit and vegetables farmers in the food supply chain and some progress has been achieved since then but the degree of organisation among producers remains low on average and considerably below the EU average in certain Member States, the MEPs said.

They also stressed the need for more support to producer organisations to provide stronger incentives to merge existing organisations or create new ones.

Farmers’ organisations that decide to take young members should be eligible for special benefits, the MEPs also said, noting currently only 7.5% of EU farmers are under 35 years of age but “well-functioning producer organisations could reverse this unsustainable trend.”

Read more here.

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Call for EU to prevent patents for plants derived from conventional breeding

The European Commission should act to ensure patents can’t be obtained on plants derived from conventional breeding, says Member of the European Parliament Bart Staes.

The European Commission should act to ensure patents can’t be obtained on plants derived from conventional breeding, says Member of the European Parliament Bart Staes.

Referring to a the decision in March by the Enlarged Board of Appeal of the European Patent Office – which clarified that patents may be granted for plants that are obtained by essentially biological processes such as classical crossing and selection – the Belgian politician said the resulting situation is a “slap in the face for farmers and small breeders.”

In a written question to the Commission, Staes, from the Flemish Greens, said the decision means patents can be granted on plant and animal products which are the result of conventional breeding processes.

“Consequently, if there is a patent on a property of a new variety, the breeder must negotiate a licence with the patent holder in order to market this new variety, even if the protected property was already present in the breeder’s propagation material. “This is a slap in the face for farmers and small breeders, and will hinder the natural breeding process. It will also lead to a loss of biodiversity, further market concentration and increased dependence on large multinationals for the supply of seeds,” he said.

Staes asked the Commission if in response to the decision it plans to provide a legally binding interpretation of the existing patent law which would no longer allow patents to be obtained on plants derived from conventional breeding. He also asked if it would be prepared to amend a directive on the legal protection of biotechnological inventions in order to prohibit patents on plants derived from conventional breeding.

The Commission’s response is yet to be published.

Source: European Parliament

 

Read more about the issue:
Intellectual Property Watch: EPO Backs Patents On Conventional Plants: Broccoli, Tomato Cases Decided
European Seed Association: ESA REGRETS “BROCCOLI/TOMATO DECISION” OF EUROPEAN PATENT OFFICE’S ENLARGED BOARD OF APPEAL

Q re patent rights.png

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US proposes accepting citrus from throughout Peru

Citrus fruit from the entire country of Peru could be imported into the continental United States under a change proposed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Services (APHIS).

Citrus fruit from the entire country of Peru could be imported into the continental United States under a change proposed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Services (APHIS).

Citrus imports are already allowed to the US from five approved citrus-producing zones in Peru subject to a ‘systems approach’. APHIS has determined this approach also mitigates the plant pest risk associated with citrus fruit produced in all other areas of Peru.

Currently, the regulations allow the import of fresh grapefruit, lime, mandarin, orange, tangerine or hybrids, sweet orange, and tangelo from the five approved citrus-producing zones in Peru.

The proposed rule would allow the import of these fruits from the entire country of Peru into the continental United States – excluding Hawaii and the U.S. Territories – under the same conditions currently in place.

APHIS said the change is expected to increase the area in Peru approved to produce citrus for export to the United States to about 1,500 hectares over 3 years. “Additional volumes of citrus expected to be shipped to the United States are 5,000 metric tons (MT) in the first year that the rule is in effect, 6,500 MT in the second year, and 8,000 MT in the third year. These quantities are equivalent to less than 1 percent of annual U.S. citrus production or U.S. citrus imports,” it said.

The comments period is open until June 30.

Find out more here.

 

 

 

 

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Fyffes flags price rises to offset currency fluctuations

Fyffes has delivered a positive performance in the early months of 2015, with profits in the year to date in line with expectations

Dubin-based tropìcal fruit group Fyffes plc says it will continue to pursue “necessary increases in selling prices in all markets” as a response to the significant strengthening of the US Dollar against the Euro and Sterling.

In a stock exchange notice, the importer and distributor of products including bananas, pineapples and melons also said it had delivered a positive performance in the early months of 2015, with profits in the year to date in line with expectations. Fyffes said it is maintaining the following target earnings range for 2015:

Fyffes target ranges.png

According to a Fyffes plc presentation at its AGM on April 30, Fyffes is Europe’s number one for banana sales and number one in the US for melons.

Fyffes market position.png

The presentation also shows Fyfess grows all of the melons it sells, about 65% of the pineapples and about 7% of the bananas.

Fyffes overview of operations.png

Fyffes fin highlights.png

sources:

Fyffes plc April 30, 2015 announcement
Fyffes plc presentation at its Annual General Meeting 30 April 2015

 

 

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US Government expected to make record apple buy

“The largest USDA apple purchase in history” is how the US Apple Association describes the US Department of Agriculture’s plans to buy fresh apples and processed apple products for surplus removal.

“The largest USDA apple purchase in history” is how the US Apple Association describes the US Department of Agriculture’s plans to buy fresh apples and processed apple products for surplus removal.

In its announcement of the purchase program, the USDA did not specify an amount, but the association said it would include 34.9 million pounds of fresh apples and 16.1 million pounds of processed apple products. It said the bonus buy, with an estimated value of $18.3 million, will supplement the USDA’s supply for nutrition programs, such as the school lunch program.

“Coming on the heels of what was likely the largest apple crop in US history, this USDA purchase is welcome news and we thank the department for it,” said US Apple Association president & CEO Jim Bair.

The USDA said an invitation for bid (solicitation) will be issued in the near future for deliveries August through December.

 

USDA announcement

US Apple Association press release

 

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EU publishes bid for ‘Melón de Torre Pacheco-Murcia’ PGI

The ‘Melón de Torre Pacheco-Murcia’ is a step closer to EU registration as a Protected Geographical Indication (PGI)

EU publishes bid for ‘Melón de Torre Pacheco-Murcia’ PGI

The ‘Melón de Torre Pacheco-Murcia’ is a step closer to EU registration as a Protected Geographical Indication (PGI) with the recent publication of its application by the European Commission.

The “Piel de Sapo” melons subject to the application are said to be held in high regard for characteristics such as their sweetness and consistent texture, which are largely attributed to the climate, soil and human factors where they are grown in the Spanish province of Murcia.

“The mild climate, influenced by the proximity of the sea, is frost-free during the growing season, which means that it is possible to plant the melons early, thus ensuring a long growing season and producing melons that have developed slowly, have a more consistent flesh and keep longer after harvesting.

“Furthermore, the melons ripen during a period when there is a maximum amount of light and little difference between daytime and night-time temperatures, which promotes the development of netting and produces fruit of a better organoleptic quality. Ripening coincides with a period of low rainfall and sunny days, which contributes to the quality of the fruit, as it makes it sweeter. Moreover, temperatures never exceed 35 °C, which could damage the melons, as it would cause burns and make them age more quickly,” the application says.

It also states the melon’s physico-chemical characteristics as:

—   MINIMUM BRIX: 12

—   MINIMUM FLESH FIRMNESS: 2.5 kg/cm2

 

Read the published application here.