January
We reveal how escalating duties have forced AB InBev to cut the alcohol content of its key lagers. Things get weird as Kraft mixes Dairy Milk with Philadelphia. And the month ends on a low as a round of redundancies begins at the The Co-op Group… Tesco issues its first profit warning in 20 years.

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  • Kraft creams Cadbury with cheese
  • Buffett buys up £500m more of Tesco
  • ‘Frustrated’ Tesco ditches eco-labels
  • Unilever unveils new blend for Flora
  • AB InBev lowers lager abvs


February
HMRC pledges to stem the flow of smuggled beer into the UK after a damning NAO report. As Poundstretcher buys bust discounter Ugo, we reveal how it owed Nisa £1.9m before going belly up. Suppliers accuse Waitrose of abuse for imposing £60 late-delivery penalties.

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  • Moshi Monsters enter canned pasta
  • Bakkavör scraps English Village
  • Wood to do Tesco marketing revamp
  • Carling refreshes iPint app
  • Tesco slides again in Kantar rankings


March
Before the price drop, the price hike. Tesco raised prices 2% prior to its Big Price Drop, we reveal. Two weeks later Richard Brasher walks as Phil Clarke steps in to steer Tesco’s ailing UK business. The pasty tax is revealed, Birds Eye goes on sale and Imperial Tobacco says sales are down in trial dark stores.

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  • Mackerel fishermen lose MSC status
  • More to share: Rolo turns into a bar
  • DBC Foodservice calls in receivers
  • Brakes cashes in on DBC’s collapse
  • DBC for sale as cash crunch bites


April
C&C Group says minimum alcohol pricing will kill off white cider sales. Company Watch warns that 25% of Britain’s biggest fmcg players are vulnerable to insolvency in the worsening economy. Tesco unveils a new ad campaign focusing on quality, hinting at Clarke’s new vision for the retailer.

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  • Morrisons revamps own label health
  • P&H snaps up Pepsi’s wholesale arm
  • Morrisons’ Pickavance packs up
  • Waitrose & discounters top ranking
  • PepsiCo in Walkers recruitment drive


May
Tesco is a “wounded animal”, says one supplier after an event on in-store collaboration. Olympic fever kicks in - 78% of indies near Games venues say it will help sales. Diageo comes under fire on Twitter as BrewDog claims foul play at an awards ceremony.

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  • Booker swoops on Makro
  • Own-label NPD overtakes brands
  • Morrisons to axe Rathbones bakery
  • Strongbow launches pear cider NPD
  • Milk Link & Arla to form superdairy


June
The Jubilee gives grocery a £200m sales surge, with Asda and Sainsbury’s enjoying the biggest boost. Following George Osborne’s May u-turn on the pasty tax, Sainsbury’s performs another: it goes back to stocking pre-frozen mackerel on its counters as a result of shortages.

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  • TU clothing to be available online
  • Olympic 24-hour Sundays for Tesco
  • Corrupt Sainsbury’s buyer jailed
  • Clubcard key to Clarke’s new strategy
  • Pascale loses Ella’s Kitchen dispute


July
As Sainsbury’s John Maylam and accomplices are jailed for corruption, 47% of survey respondents tell us they’ve known salespeople to offer bribes. The cost of Britvic’s Fruit Shoot recall forecast to hit £25m. Yet more misery for brewers: we reveal how UK beer sales have fallen by 164m pints.

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  • The Grocer Cup
  • Morrisons to sell ‘ugly’ fruit & veg
  • Health Lottery cuts prizes
  • Tesco on coupon offensive at pumps
  • The Co-op agrees £1bn refinancing


August
London 2012 gets into full swing but not everyone is happy: the FWD blames soaring duty fraud for a 12% fall in beer sales LOCOG is blamed for poor forecasting as venues face availability problems after the event, 52% of London indies say business suffered.

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  • Portas pilot Margate bosses quit
  • Nestlé shrinks Quality Street by 18%
  • Arla moves Anchor butter to UK
  • Unexpected item in self-service poll
  • Tesco to add traffic lights in U-turn


September
Britvic kicks off a campaign to mark the return of Fruit Shoot after its recall… then we reveal its struggles to regain shelf space. After Tesco’s u-turn on traffic light labelling, Aldi follows suit. A French study links cancer to a Monsanto herbicide and GM maize resistant to it. We break the story.

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  • ‘Cancer link’ to weedkiller & GM crop
  • Experts on Monsanto/GM cancer trial
  • Shoppers cash in on Asda PG fiasco
  • Scientists shrug off GM/cancer critics
  • Scan-as-you-shop to roll out at Tesco


October
Rising shipping costs are set to send food prices soaring, we reveal, as Maersk Line hikes prices 30%. A Grocer investigation proves a weekly shop at Aldi can be 40% cheaper than at one of the big four. Tesco gears up to launch Soil & Seed veg boxes. Sainsbury’s ditches the Red Tractor logo.

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  • Tesco axes New Covent Garden soups
  • Tesco unveils new organic veg boxes
  • Jamie Oliver rolls into Boots
  • Kimberly-Clark axes EU Huggies ops
  • Morrisons extends Xmas vouchers


November
Morrisons’ group commercial director Richard Hodgson is ousted after a tough year at the retailer. Asda draws up tentative plans to enter convenience retail with two new forecourt stores. Sainsbury’s says convenience has been a key driver of its sterling 2012 results.

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  • Lidl scotch a ‘collector’s item’
  • Morrisons unveils Xmas ads
  • Ladies cared for at Asda CoD launch
  • Tesco launches party food deliveries
  • Vion mulls UK sell-off


December
Just 3% of shoppers recognise a logo launched to mark sustainable palm oil use, a survey for The Grocer reveals. We also show how the cost of Christmas dinner has climbed 14.3% since 2008, with sprouts up 70%. Phil Clarke says Tesco is ‘likely’ to leave the US as Fresh & Easy CEO Tim Mason bows out.

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  • 2 Sisters staff consider strike action
  • Greenpeace targets Waitrose & Shell
  • Co-op’s ‘insulting’ dividend card pay
  • Morrisons in cool VAT chicken plan
  • Private equity swoops on B&M