FOOD BEVERAGE NEWS ON FASTMOVING

Johannesburg - South Africa is not benefiting from "global value chains", but Walmart's acquisition of Massmart Holdings offers some hope, Professor Stephen Gelb of the University of Johannesburg said on Tuesday. read more

Johannesburg - Lonrho's seafood division Oceanfresh is to supply hake fillets to Walmart stores in the US from October, it said on Monday. read more

Johannesburg - Government is not seeking to overturn competition regulators' approval of Walmart buying control of local retailer Massmart Holdings, but wants tougher conditions for the deal, the Business Day newspaper reported on Monday. read more

Retail group Massmart Holdings said on Monday it is expecting headline earnings per share of between 397c and 442.4c for the 52 weeks to June 26 2011. read more

Cape Town - The government is not considering a veto of the Walmart-Massmart merger, but believes public interest concerns make a review essential, economic development director-general Richard Levin told MPs on Thursday. read more

Cape Town - Walmart's South African operations plan to purchase R60bn worth of food locally and employ 15 000 people over the next five years, Massmart CEO Grant Pattison said on Wednesday.  read more

LOCAL competition attorneys plan to use next week’s parliamentary hearing into Walmart’s takeover of Massmart as an opportunity to warn against meddling with the country’s antitrust legal framework. read more

8 July 2011 - Nyon, Switzerland: UNI Global Union said today that the announcement from South African supermarket chain Pick n Pay that it plans to cut about 3137 jobs from its workforce is a clear sign of the “Walmart effect” it believes the world’s biggest retailer will have on South Africa as it prepares to enter the country.  read more

Johannesburg - After a stellar run in the months leading up to US retailer Walmart’s R16.5bn bid for Massmart, South African retailers are now seen offering little value to investors.  read more

Walmart, the world’s largest retailer, is going ahead with its R16-billion acquisition of Massmart’s operations in South Africa, over the next five years. “Its entry poses major challenges for new and existing retailers locally, but it also presents opportunities for growth in terms of new technologies, improving supply chain efficiencies, global outsourcing and lower food and consumer goods prices,” says John Thomson, Managing Director of Exhibition Management Services, organisers of the Southern African International Trade Exhibition (SAITEX). read more

Walmart’s entry into South Africa is set to have a profound and far-reaching impact on Africa’s retail supply chain. What are some of the ‘must do’s’ that every retailer will have to action to survive? How can smaller retailers meet the challenge? What will be the benefits and disadvantages of Walmart’s presence in the South African market? How will that impact local retailers?  read more

Johannesburg - Trade union federation Cosatu said on Thursday it is determined to see labour brokers banned, and said organised labour is facing two new threats in the form of Walmart and the youth wage subsidy.  read more

Johannesburg - Walmart's acquisition of a majority stake in Massmart Holdings raised no competition concerns, but did raise some public interest issues, the Competition Tribunal said on Wednesday. read more

Johannesburg - Rising electricity costs could spell the end of irrigation farming in South Africa.  read more

Johannesburg - Consumer group AVI expects consolidated headline earnings per share for the year to June to increase by between 23% and 33%, compared with the previous year.  read more

Cape Town - Walmart was apparently not surprised to find, in its research on South Africa, that most South Africans did not know the company at all. read more

About 6000 Food and Allied Workers' Union members in the pelagic fishing sector will embark on a legal strike at various plants on the West Coast, in Gansbaai and Hout Bay, on Friday at noon, the union said. read more

Rogers, Arkansas - As Walmart expands its international business, the company wants to bring ideas from Massmart Holdings [JSE:MSM] to other markets, company executives said on Thursday. read more

Johannesburg - Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi is planning to introduce legislation to lower the salt content of food, the Business Day reported on Wednesday. read more

Cape Town - South African fruit producers supplying the United Kingdom have had enough of supermarkets and their buyers’ bullying tactics, and have now called on the British government to protect them from alleged unethical practices. read more

Illovo Sugar on Monday reported that drought and the strong currency had impacted earnings which dropped 34% - although the group believes 2011 should show improved growth. read more

Johannesburg - Pioneer Food Group posted a sharp rise in first-half profit on Monday and said it sees a tough trading environment ahead as input costs rise and consumer spending patterns remain uncertain. read more

Johannesburg - Food and beverages company Famous Brands on Tuesday reported a 17% rise in diluted headline earnings per share to 237 cents for the year ended February 2010 from 202 cents a year ago.  read more