planet organic

Holland & Barrett is weighing a last-ditch rescue bid for Planet Organic. Sky News reports that H&B, which is owned by the Russian-linked investment group LetterOne, is among a handful of suitors who remain interested in buying parts of retailer.

Tesco has undercut German rivals Aldi and Lidl on milk after slashing the price of a pint for the first time in three years. Britain’s biggest supermarket has cut the price of a pint of milk from 95p to 90p, while it has also knocked 5p off the cost of two pints and 10p off a four pint carton (The Telegraph).

Chicken sold in Tesco has been linked by campaigners to the deforestation of the Amazon rainforest. The supermarket said it had asked its suppliers to investigate. The environmental group Mighty Earth charted the supply chain of soya from a farm in Brazil where fires cleared the equivalent of 560 Wembley football pitches last September (The Times £).

Soaring energy costs are forcing British tomato growers to quit, with the impact being less choice and higher prices for consumers (The Guardian).

US inflation eased last month to its lowest level in nearly two years but an uptick in core prices could keep pressure on the Federal Reserve to press ahead with another interest rate increase in May (The Financial Times £).

British fresh fruit technology that harnesses a mineral dug up with rare earth metals is gaining traction among growers once again after a turnaround in the fortunes of the company that is commercialising it (The Times £).