Last week, the news broke that UK supermarket giant Tesco was considering offloading its entire Asian business, with a deal in the offing to offload its Thai and Malaysian arms for up to £6.8bn.

The grocer confirmed it had received “inbound interest” for its Asian business, which spans more than 2,000 stores and employs 60,000 people. It has since “commenced a review of the strategic operations for its businesses in Thailand and Malaysia”.

Any sale would fit into a larger pattern of UK grocers retreating from overseas markets that has emerged over the last decade.