Trading Partners

SHENZHEN, China - Wal-Mart announced here today that it would hold its annual worldwide board of directors' meeting in the Chinese mainland for the first time, the Xinhua News Agency reports. Shenzhen City in southern China's Guandong Province will be the location of the meeting. The first Wal-Mart in the Chinese Mainland opened in 1996.

ANN ARBOR, Mich. and SAN DIEGO, Calif. - NSF International, an independent, not-for-profit company specializing in public health and safety risk management solutions, has acquired Quality Assurance International, Inc., which offers organic certification services.

CHARLESTON, S.C. - Customers in four Piggly Wiggly stores here and in Columbia, S.C. will be able to purchase their groceries with just a touch of the finger by August. The rest of the chain's locations will get the $50 scanners later this year, according to the Post and Courier here.

WASHINGTON - The food and beverage industry is committed to helping reverse the growth of obesity, the Grocery Manufacturers of America (GMA) testified on Tuesday before a Senate hearing on combating obesity in America.

MINNEAPOLIS - Grocery workers have ratified a new three-year contract with three major area supermarket chains that allows modest salary increases and doesn't require union members to pay health care premiums, according to the Associated Press.

MONTERREY, Mexico - Mexico's antitrust regulator has blocked an alliance among three supermarket retailers seeking to reduce operating costs and cut retail prices to compete with Wal-Mart de Mexico (Walmex), Reuters Reports.

RHEINBORG, Germany - The future is not bright for RFID loyalty cards at Metro's Future Store. Following pressure and protests from civil liberties group FoeBuD over consumer privacy, Metro AG has decided to discontinue the test program.

Washington - Online auction site eBay has implemented a number of new policies for the resale of coupons on its site, which are designed to reduce the possibility of abuse while improving the efficiency of the secondary market, the Grocery Manufacturers of America (GMA) and the Food Marketing Institute (FMI) have announced.