TESCO to expand its sourcing from Sri Lanka
TESCO, world’s third largest retailer and UK’s biggest supermarket
chain, is preparing to significantly expand its sourcing from Sri Lanka,
buoyed by the well-focused facilitation of the recently established
Consultative Committee on Market Diversification (CCMD).
TESCO PLC is the $ 94 billion revenued (2011) world’s third largest
listed retailer with 6300 stores, 500,000 employees across 14 countries
and also is UK’s largest supermarket chain commanding more than 30%
British market share.
“We are not here to source Sri Lankan apparels or food products of
which we are well established already with $ 100 million annual
purchases. Now we want to go for other Sri Lankan products as well”
revealed Mark Kenneth Astley, Haryana based General Manager of Tesco
Hardlines, Gurgaon (under Tesco International Sourcing, Hong Kong), on
05 December at the Ministry of Industry and Commerce, Colombo. Astley is
now in Colombo with Amit Lal, his Manager, for special direct one-to-one
meetings with keen Sri Lankan exporters, arranged by the Consultative
Committee on Market Diversification (CCMD), the new unit recently
established to battle the global market downturn and secure new export
destinations for Sri Lanka exports.
The cross functional unit CCMD is now reporting its first high level
win with TESCO’s entry --in less than a month since its commencement on
16 November. CCMD is driven by the Department of Commerce (DoC) and is
chaired by the Secretary of the Ministry of Industry and Commerce. It is
also learnt that Mrs Sonali Wijeratne, DoC’s own Minister (Commercial)
based in London, has been commendably instrumental in securing TESCO’s
latest entry to Sri Lanka.
“We believe that Sri Lanka can add color to TESCO’s product profile
by exploiting our diverse basket” said Anura Siriwardene, Secretary,
Ministry of Industry and Commerce addressing Mr Astley. “The Ministry of
Industry and Commerce and the DoC assure you the maximum support in this
process” he stressed.
“We are keen in expanding the Sri Lankan product profile displayed on
the shelves of 6300+ TESCO stores across the world, 2900+ of which are
in UK. At present, we are thinking of additional GBP £ 15 to 20 million
($ 32 million) product sourcing from Sri Lanka. Previously, our growth
came from UK. But now we see new growth coming from the East, South
Korea, Thailand, Malaysia, China etc as our stores in these markets
report more sales.
Therefore we need to source more products and Sri Lanka is one South
Asian country we are now closely studying among 33 new sourcing
destinations. In other words, TESCO can be a viable and a promising
platform for Sri Lanka’s export market diversification, specially to the
East” Astley revealed and cautioned: “But please understand that with
more than 6300 stores across the world, TESCO can be a demanding
customer in terms of quality and quantity”. |