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N E W S F R O M A C R O S S T H E F O O D S U P P LY C H A I N SUPPLY SCAN 8 JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2015 • FOOD LOGISTICS www.foodlogistics.com D A I L Y U P D A T E S A T W W W . F O O D L O G I S T I C S . C O M Regs Galore Hound Food Retailers In 2015 A host of regulations on nutri- tion, food safety and country-of- origin labels that will be released or take effect this year promises to keep U.S. food retailers on their toes in 2015, according to news reports. Just after Thanksgiving last year, the FDA released its long-awaited rule on menu labeling, which includes extensive requirements for supermarkets. "This was absolutely something that we were not expecting," said Jennifer Hatcher, senior vice presi- dent of government and public affairs at the Food Marketing Institute. Any retailer with 20 or more locations will need to display calorie counts for many items in the deli and bakery within a year. Sysco/US Foods Merger Hits A Standstill Sysco Corp. said negotiations with antitrust regulators over its planned acquisition of US Foods Inc. have reached a standstill, signaling increasing chances the government could sue to block the marriage of the two largest U.S. food distributors, despite Sysco's recently proposed agreement to sell 11 US Foods distribution centers to Perfor- mance Food Group Co., accord- ing to The Wall Street Journal. FTC Approves Albertsons And Safeway Merger; Chains To Divest 168 Stores Supermarket chains Albertsons and Safeway agreed to sell 168 stores in eight states to win U.S. antitrust approval for their $9.2 billion merger, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) said recently, according to Reuters. Albertsons, which has 630 supermarkets under various brand names, and Safeway, which has 1,332 stores, will divest stores in Arizona, California, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Texas, Washing- ton, and Wyoming, the FTC said. Safeway will be delisted from the New York Stock Exchange, the companies said. The transac- tion was announced in March. Target Corp. Pulls The Plug On Canada Stores Target Corp. announced that it plans to discon- tinue operating stores in Canada through its indirect wholly-owned subsidiary, Target Canada Co. As a part of that process, Target Canada filed an application for protection under the Companies' Creditors Arrangement Act with the Ontario Superior Court of Justice. Target Canada currently has 133 stores across the country and employs approximately 17,600 people. Policy Expert: U.S.-Cuba Trade Boom Coming President Obama's modest eas- ing of the Cuban trade embargo will allow the U.S. to rebuild its economic relationship with Cuba, according to Kent Jones, who spe- cializes in trade policy and insti- tutional issues at Babson College in Babson Park, Mass., writing in the Deseret News in Salt Lake City, Utah. Ending this economi- cally destructive policy completely, however, will require a formal vote by Congress to end the trade restrictions, Jones claims. The modest measures taken so far will only remove transac- tion costs on the small amount of trade that already exists, Jones writes. Red tape, such as burden- some financial and payment terms, reduces U.S. competitiveness in selling food and humanitarian goods to Cuba, harming mainly U.S. exporters. What's at stake ultimately is the re-establishment of a thriving trade and investment relationship between the two countries that was interrupted by Castro's revolu- tion and central planning folly, and then aided and abetted by the embargo, according to Jones. All data provided by Zepol. Visit zepol. com for a Free Trial • Mexico • Canada • Chile • Peru • New Zealand • Australia • Vietnam • Japan • Malaysia • Singapore U.S. Imports of Fruit and Vegetables from TPP Nations TPP Nations of Origin for U.S. Imports of Fruit and Vegetables The Obama administration is putting a large dent in the U.S. embargo against Cuba, significantly loosening restric- tions on American trade and investment. The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) is a proposed trade agreement that's currently in the negotiating stages between 12 countries: the United States, Australia, Brunei Darussalam, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam. The partnership has been a topic of debate over the last few months, but there's no dispute that overall the U.S. trade is huge with these nations. In fact, Zepol's data shows that TPP countries make up 38 percent of total U.S. imports and 45 percent of total U.S. exports. Even the produce trade with TPP nations is large. In 2014, (from January to November) the United States imported over $14 billion in fruits and vegetables from TPP countries. Most of the imports come from Mexico (62 percent), Canada (19 percent), and Chile (12 percent), and the numbers are climbing. Compared with 2013, U.S. fruit and vegetable imports rose by 7 percent in 2014 from TPP nations, 2 percent higher than the average produce increase. Source: Zepol, www.zepol.com 2013 2014 Vegetables Billions $16 $14 $12 $10 $8 $6 $4 $2 $0 Fruits Total U.S. IMPORTS OF FRUIT AND VEGETABLES FROM TRANS-PACIFIC PARTNERSHIP (TPP) NATIONS 62% 19% 12% 6% 1%