Axfood to concentrate fresh-produce purchases to single supplier

Axfood is changing the way it purchases fruits and vegetables for its stores and will be concentrating its fresh-produce purchasing to a single suppler, Saba. This will result in a more inspiring and attractively priced offering at fresh produce departments across the Group.

"This is a way of streamlining our purchasing and will enable us to better meet our customers' demands for inspiring and attractively priced fruits and vegetables," says Anders Strålman, President and CEO of Axfood AB. "The new arrangement will also enable us to obtain lower purchasing prices." In all, Axfood purchases 183,000 tonnes of fresh produce per year – 500 tonnes of fruits and vegetables per day – at a cost of approximately SEK 2 billion. To date, Axfood's purchases of fresh produce have been made via Saba (supplier to Hemköp) and Lime (supplier to Willys), which have adapted their purchasing and product selection to the demand of several players in the Swedish market. Under the new arrangement, which is customised for Axfood, Saba will handle all deliveries to Hemköp and Willys, which will lead to fresher products in the stores. Axfood will gain better overall control of its fresh produce offering, which will ultimately benefit the customers. In connection with the changeover to the new single-supplier arrangement, Axfood is creating a new fresh produce purchasing and distribution organisation, which will be located in Helsingborg. Axfood's logistics company Dagab will be directing all transports to the Group's stores. The new arrangement will be in full operation by April 2007 at the latest. For further information, please contact: Anders Strålman, President and CEO, Axfood AB, +46-708-37 88 37 Hans Holmstedt, Fresh Produce Business Area Manager, Axfood AB, +46-705-517 517 Kenneth Wall, Director of Press Relations, Axfood AB, +46-703-124 122