SUPERMARKET TO ASIA: In brief

Business Asia, March 17, 2000

* Hong Kong -- Starbucks Corp, the largest US specialty-coffee store retailer, says it plans to open its first stores in Hong Kong this year as part of its drive to expand in Asia. Seattle-based Starbucks will start opening Hong Kong outlets by June in the city's major traffic areas, including the central business district, the Causeway Bay and the Tsim She Tsui neighbourhoods.

-- Bloomberg

* Manila -- H.J. Heinz Co, the world's largest ketchup maker, and Nutri Asia of the Philippines are forming a joint venture to increase production and sales of ketchup in the Philippines. The venture, Heinz UFC Philippines, is expected to sell about 110 million bottles of ketchup annually. Sales this year are expected at US$50 million.

-- Bloomberg

* Hong Kong -- Construction, decoration and project management company, the Wang On Group, says it is in talks with an independent third party about cooperating in a Hong Kong Chinese food website. No agreement has yet been confirmed. Wang On issued the statement after a sharp rise in the trading volume and price of its shares.

-- Reuters

* Tokyo -- McDonald's Japan, the nation's largest fast-food restaurant operator, says it expects to triple sales and the number of its stores in the next decade. The company says it will return to its initial plan to sell shares to the public in 2002. McDonald's Japan has previously said it might list shares in 2001, a year earlier than its original target.

-- Bloomberg

* Mumbai -- Tata Tea has paid 271 million pounds (US$431 million) to buy the Tetley Group, the United Kingdom's biggest teabag maker, marking the biggest overseas purchase yet by an Indian company. The acquisition will make Tata the world's second-largest producer of tea bags as well as instant, herbal and iced teas. The purchase excludes Tetley's US coffee businesses, which were sold to US companies last month. The Tetley purchase will help Tata expand in Europe, North America and Australia, where it hasn't been active so far.

-- Bloomberg

* Jakarta -- Indonesia plans to stop foreign companies fishing in Indonesian waters unless they set up processing facilities in Indonesia, Maritime Exploration Minister Sarwono Kusumaatmadja says. "We want to help the companies that invest in packaging and processing, thereby adding value to drive the economy," Sarwono said. Indonesia's more than 17,000 islands are strewn along the equator across an area the size of the continental United States, offering some of the richest fishing waters in Asia.

-- Bloomberg