Food & Drink Insight, March 2007

Auchan's arrival in Ukraine has been long anticipated, but until recently although there has been a great deal of speculation and third-party reports, relatively little information has come from the company. However, the French retail giant has now held a major presentation in Kiev for potential suppliers and has provided a road map for its initial expansion in the market. The company's plans are good news overall for the pace of development of the mass grocery retail (MGR) sector in Ukraine, as is its commitment to focus on using local suppliers.

Source: EBRD Press Release 6 February 2007

€100 million loan to retailer approved by Board of Directors

Romanians in smaller urban centres are set to benefit from a €100 million loan the EBRD is providing to retailer Kaufland Romania to support the company's expansion to the country's regions. The company has developed a tailor-made format which will offer consumers a wider variety of choice at competitive prices. At the same time local suppliers will benefit from the opportunity to sell their products to Kaufland.

PlanetRetail 30 March 2007 

As reported by Piata, Carrefour Romania is accelerating its expansion in the country with an extra EUR60 million (USD79.1 million) to its budget to support the extension of the hypermarket network in 2008. The investment is necessary for building a further three stores, besides the two stores already announced to be opened next year. These five outlets, which will become operative by the end of 2008, are to be located in the Romanian cities of Bucharest, Oradea, Arad, Suceava and Pitesti. Carrefour entered the Romanian market in 2001 and it currently operates seven hypermarkets. By the end of this year, the retailer intends to launch three or four stores.

Planet Retail 9 March 2007

According to reports in the Ukraine press, the newly appointed managing director of Auchan Russia, Jean Pierre Germain, has unveiled the retailer's expansion plans for the Ukraine. Auchan will open its first outlet in Kyiv [Kiev] by the end of 2007 and a further three stores in 2008. Auchan will rely on domestic supplies, but will also establish viable channels with foreign producers to keep the local chain up to international standards, according to Mr Germain.

Hungarian poultry sector can recover after the shock of H5N1, the avian influenza discovered last year.

 Planet Retail 19 December 2006

The Hungarian Competition Office (GVH) has announced that it has approved a code of ethics drawn up the country's largest supermarket chains. Under a law enacted on June 1 this year, the retailers were given six months to draw up the Trade Ethics Code. The retailers include Auchan, Cora, Match, Metro, Plus, Penny, Profi, Real, SPAR and Tesco. The companies may suggest changes to the code based on their experience until September 2007.

Global Retail Bulletin by Planet Retail,
1 December 2006  

Ten months after talks of a merger between Mercator, Konzum and Delta Holding were rejected, Serbian Delta Holding and Croatian Agrokor (the owner of Konzum), both retail conglomerates in their home countries, announced that they have started a process to merge their divisions. The merger process would take at least a year and could be completed in two years. A successful completion of the merger will be followed by an initial public offering of the new company in London. Meanwhile, Slovenian retailer Mercator has acquired Rodic, the second largest retailer in Serbia. These developments highlight the fact that M&A activity is growing in the region and that the retail market is expected to become much more concentrated in the medium to long-term - a phenomenon one would expect in an economically emerging region such as ex-Yugoslavia, where consumers have become visibly wealthier over the past few years.

Continued investment is helping Danone to consolidate its position in the Russian dairy sector. Danone expects sales of its products in the country to reach around €380m by the end of 2006. Success is claimed in part to be due to an increasing number of sales channels through more exclusive distributors. The company held a 24.8 per cent share of the Russian dairy market in 2005, with turnover in dairy sales rising through the year by 30 per cent.

PlanetRetail 20 October 2006

With rumours circulating during the last week that Wal-Mart Stores is to acquire Migros Türk, the retailer yesterday told just-food that that it has investigated expansion in Eastern Europe, which it views as a "very interesting market. In general Eastern European markets are very interesting to us and we are monitoring the situation there," according to Amy Wyatt of Wal-Mart International, declining to comment on the specific rumour. "We did send a research team in to study the Russian market about two years ago. Nothing specific has come of that, but we are interested in opportunities in the market," she continued.

Planet Retail 9 October 2006 

Metro has opened its second cash & carry outlet in the Moldovan capital Chisinau. Investments amounted to EUR13 million (USD16.5 million). The new store offers some 17,500 products, including 7,500 food products. Metro opened its first store in Moldova at the end of 2004, with an investment of EUR15 million (USD19 million). Daily turnover of the first store is EUR200,000 (USD253,385.9) according to commercial director of Metro Cash & Carry for Romania and Moldova, Gerardo Monzillo.