Asda still worst major UK grocer in treatment of suppliers - regulator

LONDON, June 25 (Reuters) - Asda remained the worst of Britain's major supermarkets in its treatment of suppliers, according to the UK grocery regulator's annual sector survey published on Monday.

Some 8 percent of Asda's suppliers said the British arm of Walmart "rarely" or "never complied" with the Grocery Supply Code of Practice, the 2018 survey, carried out by YouGov for the Groceries Code Adjudicator, found.

Though that was an improvement on last year's figure of 11 percent it still made Asda the laggard of Britain's big four grocers.

The issue of supermarkets' treatment of suppliers has gained prominence in light of Sainsbury (Amsterdam: SJ6.AS - news) 's' proposed 7.3 billion pounds ($9.7 billion) takeover of Asda.

Sainsbury's dropped from first place among the big four in last year's survey to second place with 95 percent of suppliers saying it complied with the code either "consistently well" or "mostly" and 5 percent saying it rarely did.

Market leader Tesco (Frankfurt: 852647 - news) was the best performer with figures of 97 percent and 3 percent respectively, while Morrisons was third with 93 percent and 7 percent.

The survey found discounter Aldi was the most compliant with the code across the whole grocery industry for the fifth year in a row. ($1 = 0.7557 pounds) (Reporting by James Davey; editing by Sarah Young)