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”.