There has been extremely rapid transformation in the past decade of the food retail sector, embodied in the rapid spread of supermarkets, in East and Southeast Asia and Latin America-the emerging markets of the Pacific Rim region. As the supermarket sector develops, leading chains are rapidly adopting technological, organizational, and institutional changes in their product-procurement systems. These changes alter the market that farmers face and have the potential to substantially transform the nature, composition, and volume of trade in the region. These trends in turn present both opportunities and challenges for development that require careful program and policy attention.