Food Retailing, Supermarkets and Food Security: Highlights from Latin America

The importance of supermarkets in the world food economy has increased radically since the early 1990s. They are now major sellers and buyers of food items not only in developed but also in developing countries. Urbanization and the liberalization of the services sector have been important facilitators of this process. Supermarkets have a significant impact on both producers and consumers. They provide relatively cheaper and better quality products, at least to some groups of urban consumers (the relatively better-off consumers in developing countries and the poor inner-city dwellers in more developed ones), thus contributing positively to their food security. Their global procurement networks, stringent quality requirements and financial muscle make this possible. The same factors, however, impact differently on producers. The suppliers who can abide by the quality standards, quantity requirements.