LITTLE ROCK — Wal-Mart reviewing procedures in China
Wal-Mart Stores Inc.
is reviewing management procedures at its stores in China as it reopened outlets in Chongqing after officials ordered all 13 in the city closed for two weeks for mislabeling ordinary pork as organic.
The world’s largest retailer has doubled efforts to improve operations and needs to review management procedures across China, Del Sloneker, chief operating officer of Wal-Mart China Hypermarket, told reporters Tuesday in Chongqing.
Asia Chief Executive Officer Scott Price, who took control of China operations earlier this month, visited some stores in Chongqing as China’s second-biggest operator of hypermarkets seeks to regain any consumer good will lost in the pork-labeling incident.
Wal-Mart was fined and ordered to halt operations at the 13 stores, and police detained 37 employees, the most severe punishment of the retailer since entering China in 1996.
Rice settlement
deadline is Nov. 24
A second deadline for farmers who planted the genetically modified rice that found its way into the U.S. rice supply in 2006 and disrupted markets is Nov. 24.
Earlier this year, Bayer Crop Science, a subsidiary of German-based Bayer AG, agreed to pay U.S.
long-grain rice farmers a $750 million settlement.
The money was split into three parts. One is to compensate farmers for market losses caused by the European Union banning U.S. long-grain rice.
The second is to compensate farmers who planted the contaminated varieties, Cheniere or Clearfield 131.
The third is for farmers who had to clean fields, grain silos and equipment after planting the contaminated varieties.
A spokesman for Bayer said the deadline for the second part is Nov. 24. The initial deadline for the first part passed on Oct. 10, but was extended until Nov. 21.
A deadline for the third part has not been announced.
13 stocks fall, drive Arkansas Index down
The Arkansas Index, a price-weighted index that tracks the largest public companies based in the state, dropped 4.86 to 206.80 on Tuesday.
“U.S. stocks accelerated lower into the close, falling 2 percent on news that the European plan to shore up banks and deal with Greece was not going to happen at [today’s] meetings,” said Chris Harkins, senior vice president and managing director of Delta Trust Investments Inc. in Little Rock. “The Arkansas Index followed the overall stock market lower as 13 stocks declined and only three managed to gain.”
USA Truck gained 3.7 percent, Harkins said.
The index was developed by Bloomberg News and the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette with a base value of 100 as of Dec. 30, 1997.
Business, Pages 29 on 10/26/2011