India and Mauritius Sign Agreement for Export of Mangoes
On the occasion of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Mauritius, India and Mauritius have signed five agreements. However, for the food industry the most important agreement deals with the export of mangoes. The Department of Agriculture and Cooperation, Ministry of Agriculture of India and the Ministry of Agro-Industry and Food Security of Mauritius signed a protocol for the export of fresh mangoes to Mauritius.
This will enable Mauritius to import fresh mangoes from India so that they can also relish our delicious and world renowned India mangoes. Another agreement that could impact the food industry is the one on ocean economy as it will enable Mauritius and India to corporate on the development of fisheries besides other marine resources.
Zomato Aims to make Inroads into Online Food Ordering Service
Zomato is an online and mobile restaurant discovery service that offers information about menus, directions, contact details, pictures and user reviews. Now it is getting ready to steal a march over Foodpanda’s market share in the online food ordering service. Users will be able to order food online and the order will be manually processed by restaurants and payment is only on delivery unlike that of Foodpanda or Just Eat. Zomato will charge a commission from restaurants for orders that come through them.
Zomato has already begun the service in Delhi, Bangalore and Mumbai but by midmonth it will be on a full scale as they have on board 2000 restaurants as partners. They aim to take the partnership to 10,000 restaurants in India. They are only involved in the online food delivery as they provide the tech platform but food delivery will be handled by the restaurants.
Indian Raw Sugar Exports Facing Stiff Competition from Brazil
Indian exports of raw sugar are likely to be halved as they cannot compete with the price of $310 per tonne of raw sugar that Brazil offers as compared to India’s comparatively high price of $345. The raw sugar exporters also claim that the subsidy of Rs. 4000 per tonne for an export of 1.4 million tonne raw sugar was announced very late by the government. As the prices of crude oil have plunged Brazil has been able to offer much lower freight costs as compared to Indian freight costs.
India was expected to produce at least 10lakh tonnes of raw sugar but this does not seem possible anymore and India is likely to produce only 3 to 5 lakh tonnes. India has been left with no international buyers as sentiments are down. Also locally manufactured raw sugar imported from Brazil is turning out to be much cheaper at Rs.3000 per tonne. Only once Brazilian stocks reduce will Indian sugars have a chance.
China Keen to Invest in Punjab
While addressing a meeting organised by the Confederation of International Chambers of Commerce and Industry in Amritsar recently, Le Yucheng the Chinese Ambassador to India, said that China was keen to invest in Punjab. He praised the people of Punjab for their enterprising spirit, which he said, matched that of the Chinese.
The Ambassador is keen on directing investment and would like to bring the latest technological know-how to Punjab especially in the field of agro and food processing and also in fisheries besides power and renewable energy, textiles and light engineering.
Mars International India looking to invest in Maharashtra
Mars International India, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Mars Incorporated will invest Rs.1,005 crores in the Maharashtra through its Pune manufacturing plant. The Memorandum of understanding (MoU) was recently signed between the company and the Maharashtra government. The Pune plant will be completely eco-friendly and a LEED Gold certified facility. This will boost the production capacity as there is a great demand for Mars chocolates in India.
The plant will produce world class Mars’ brands Snickers and Galaxy to cater to the growing chocolate demand. Presently these chocolates are being imported. This will also give a boost to the Make in India label. The Pune based plant is likely to generate direct employment for 200 people and indirectly for another 1000. The chocolate industry in India is growing at nearly 20% every year and Mars India sees this as a great opportunity.
Poultry Firms See Opportunity after Ban on Beef in Maharashtra
To discourage the slaughtering of livestock, the Maharashtra Govt. has placed a ban on the slaughter of bulls and bullocks. No matter how it affects jobs or exports it is good news for the poultry industry as demand for chicken is likely to rise by 5% to go to 8% in about a month’s time especially as Maharashtra has a population of 110 million.
India is the world’s second largest exporter of beef but the ban could affect this status. Even without a beef ban India’s poultry industry has been on a steady rise as higher incomes have increased the demand for meat. The U.S. Department of Agriculture has estimated that broiler production will reach a new high of 3.9 million tonnes in 2015.
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