Contact Us
Site icon

    If you are a candidate looking for a new role, a business looking for a recruitment partner or a recruitment professional looking for a career with Henderson Brown please fill in the below for a confidential conversation with one of our team:

    New study claims greater collaboration from different parts of the supply chain is vital to deal with new challenges facing the industry.

    A new reports claims Peru’s asparagus export industry needs to rethink its strategic approach if it is to maintain its position as the world’s leading export nation.

    The research, by the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (Cepal) warned that if it wishes to stay ahead of the competition, Peru requires a more strategic approach to exports and better access to information.

    “The dynamics of a global market, competition from Mexico, rising logistics costs, exchange rate variations and lack of cohesion between the policies of the various export companies all point to the need to take more frequent and better decisions, so fast and accurate information is crucial,” the report said.

    The report also suggests that climate change will play a significantly more important role in the industry, impacting on production zones and the main consumer markets alike. Water scarcity in Peru’s main production zones will also limit the future growth of the industry, the study predicted.

    It said that while a number of institutions within Peru are working to develop technical innovations that would alleviate the impact of climate change, they are “working in isolation, without realising the importance of involving the entire supply chain”. It called for greater collaboration between the public and private sectors, highlighting the work undertaken by the Peruvian Institute for Asparagus and other bodies as successful examples of public-private partnership within the industry.

    Peru was the world’s biggest exporter of fresh asparagus in the period between 2008 and 2012. However, the report warned that Mexico is playing an increasingly important role as a supplier to key markets including the UK, Spain, and the Netherlands during the first half of the year.

    Peruvian asparagus growers urged to unite

    Ambitious move comes as retailer looks to ‘consolidate position as number one in the competitive convenience market’

    The Co-operative is to open 54 shops on pub sites over the next 2 years as it looks to step up expansion of its 2,000-strong convenience store estate.

    Most of the new stores will be built on car parks and other land next to the actual pubs, with the rest coming from converted pubs.

    Fresh Products Vacancies

    The move will help the retailer grow its estate by 150 in each of the next five years, and involves around a quarter of the 202 pub sites that retail property group New River bought from brewer Marston’s in November for £90 million.

    Most of the sites are located in central, eastern and northern England, and the first shop is set to open its doors early next year.

    Each store will be between 3,000 sq ft and 4,500 sq ft, with almost 200,000 sq ft of new retail space set to be developed in total.

    Steve Murrells, chief executive of The Co-op’s retail division, said: “Our focus is on convenience stores and a move away from larger stores, as we look to highlight our strengths and consolidate our position as number one in the competitive convenience market.”

    The Co-op in pubs to shops move

    Latest Kantar Worldpanel data shows strong performances from hard discounters, Farmfoods, and Waitrose 

    Aldi has reached a record market share in the UK grocery sector.

    The latest grocery share figures from Kantar Worldpanel, published today for the 12 weeks ending 30 March 2014, show that the hard discounter has achieved its highest ever growth of 35%, boosting the retailer to a record market share of 4.6%.

    The figures also show what appears to be a dramatic market slowdown, with growth of only 0.6%.

    However, this is distorted by the late falling of Easter this year, which was included in the 2013 period but not in the current data.  Kantar Worldpanel estimates that Easter accounts for market growth of 0.9%.  This means that a ‘corrected’ market growth would stand at 1.5%, which is still low by historical standards.

    Edward Garner, director at Kantar Worldpanel explains: “Amid a challenging market backdrop, individual retailer growth might be expected to be restricted.  This is certainly not the case for Aldi, and Lidl also experienced strong growth in a record breaking month, and now accounts for 3.4% of the market.

    “All of the ‘big four’ supermarkets have faced declining sales over the past 12 weeks, which has been accentuated by the late falling of Easter. Nevertheless, they have also seen worrying share declines, with the most resilient performance coming from Asda this period.”

    Waitrose continues to hold on to its record 5% share reached last period, while The Co-operative appears to have stemmed its share losses, managing to hold its current 6.1% share over our past four reports.  Frozen food outlet Farmfoods is performing well, reaching a record share of 0.8%.

    Aldi achieves record market share

    Retailers are responsible for a quarter of food adverts for unhealthy products shown during primetime television, according to new research.

    The study found that, in a sample of over 750 television adverts, 22 per cent of those shown between 8pm and 9pm were for food, and viewers could see as many as six junk food adverts every hour.  

    Within the food adverts, the most frequently shown were unhealthy products from supermarkets such as Aldi and Morrisons (25 per cent), followed by fast-food chains such as KFC (13 per cent), with chocolate and sweet companies like Lindt and Haribo the third most common (12 per cent).

    The research was commissioned by the Children’s Food Campaign, Action on Junk Food Marketing and the British Heart Foundation (BHF), which said that laws to protect children from targeted adverts don’t usually cover the primetime evening slot.

    The trio called for the government and watchdog to address this “glaring loophole” in junk food marketing.

    FMCG“Parents don’t expect their children to be bombarded with ads for unhealthy food during primetime TV, but that’s exactly what happens.” said Simon Gillespie, chief executive of the BHF.

    “We want the Government to protect children by switching off junk food adverts on TV until after 9pm and putting rules in place to stop children becoming fair game for internet marketing.”

    According to researchers, the clips analysed seem designed for a young audience, as nearly a third used themes of ‘fun’ rather than more adult concerns of price or convenience, and over half of the clips used children or child-aged characters to promote junk food.

     

    Retailers push junk food at primetime

    FMCG Vacancies

    New retailer listing for convenience fruit snacks from prepared company Humdinger

    Snack firm Humdinger has won an Asda listing for its branded Fruit Factory potted fruit snacks from 19 May 2014.

    The brand is now stocked in all major retailers across the UK.

    It will be available in Asda in multipacks consisting of Strawberry, Apple & Orange Fruit Strings, Strawberry Fruit Hearts, Strawberry, Apple & Orange Fruit Stars and Lunchbox Mini Snacks. The pack RRP will between £1.49 and £1.99.

    Carl Widdop, brand manager at Humdinger, said the company is looking to expand further during 2014.

    “We’re delighted to announce that The Fruit Factory products will soon be available in Asda stores nationwide,” he said. “It’s a great start to the year for the brand to have secured listings in all the UK’s major supermarkets.”

    Humdinger distributes dried fruit and savoury snacks under the Humdinger and The Fruit Factory brands, as well as licensed products from Budweiser, Marmite and Vimto.

    Fruit Factory snacks land in Asda
    Submit Your CV