date:Feb 17, 2014
id they together account for 6.7 percent of the total market.
Hurt by the tough economic climate in recent years that has helped fuel the expansion of discounters like Aldi ALDIEI.UL and Lidl across Europe, supermarkets have been squeezing their suppliers ever harder to push down prices.
Many of the competitors of the firms in the new alliance are in another buying partnership, AMS Sourcing, established in 1988, which groups retailers including Delhaize (DELB.BR) of Belgium, Esselunga of Italy