
Snapshots of Food Industry News
Future Group invests in Booker Group in India
The Future Group is picking up 50 percent stake into the cash and carry business with UK based Booker Group which is a retailer. Future will invest Rs.50 crore and the deal is routed through the FMCG arm to leverage its food business. Booker Group entered India in 2009 and has six carry stores that supply food and FMCG to small retailers and other customers in Maharashtra and Gujarat. Booker India presently operates in four locations in Mumbai and one each in Pune and Surat. The Future Group and Booker Group can together reach out to a larger number of retailers in India as Future already has a wide distributor network. Earlier this month, Future had acquired the retail and allied businesses of Hyderabad-based Heritage Foods Ltd. Booker Group is the UK’s leading food wholesaler and offers a number of private and branded labels. Its business customers include independent convenience stores, pubs and restaurants, grocers and leisure outlets.
Coca-Cola to phase out the bigger bottles
Coca-Cola plans to sell half of its products in smaller packs. This will increase the frequency of consumption and help growth which is presently only in single digits. Coca-Cola is also taking this move to control potion size aimed at the health conscious consumers who wish to lower sugar and calorie consumption. The company will release180ml cans, 200ml bottles and 250ml juice packs more extensively in the market. Coca-Cola has also shifted metrics from unit case volume case to a mix of revenue growth and unit volume case. The realisation per unit case in smaller packs is higher than in bigger packs in revenue growth.
From henceforth the company plans to phase out the single serve big packs and will retain only smaller packs. Presently more than 40 percent of the company’s sales come from small packs that have only 100 calories. Consumers in India drink only about two bottles of coke in a year. Since the consumption level is so low it is a good idea to switch to smaller packs. They also intend to scale up distribution of the 250ml PET bottles. The company has reported a 4 percent drop in unit case volume in the July- September quarter and 3 percent growth in the quarter before that, which is the summer quarter. While the consumption of aerated beverages has gone up in the country it is the low priced local brands that are growing more than national brands.
Paper Boat to foray into the traditional Indian snacks market
Paper Boat, promoted by Hector Beverages wants to replicate its ethnic beverages success with packaged traditional Indian ethnic snacks. By next month the company will have its snack foods on the shelves as it wants a share in the fast growing packaged food business sector. Another reason for the move is that beverages have seasonality while foods have growth momentum throughout the year. The model will be the same as the beverages though the focus will be only on Indian traditional snack foods. Paper Boat would create its own niche in this segment as they do not wish to be in competition with already established snack players. They also intend to make available those India snacks which are not readily available in the market and will target the younger generation with innovative packaging and formats.
Britannia to launch new products in bakery division
Britannia Industries is planning to become an all-out food company and is therefore all set to launch new products in the coming nine to ten months. They have plans to launch a number of new products in the bakery segment to fill the gap in its portfolio. The foods that can fill up the segment are cereal bars and croissant. The company is presently developing a strategy to get these products into their portfolio. In the coming month they would make a series of launches for which they are getting the capex organised. For the present, they have not decided on dairy segment but they will make a decision on it at the earliest. If they do launch into the dairy segment they would like an all India presence. For setting up dairy operations they would look towards Maharashtra.
24 Mantra Organic launches new ready-to-cook products and snacks
24 Mantra Organic has announced the launch of new products and variants in the ready-to-cook and snacks segments. The organic food company hopes to target the health conscious Indian consumers. In the ready-to-cook segment they will introduce biryani, pongal and khichdi, kanda poha, gojji avalaki, ragi idly mixes and millet dosa mix that will have a home cooked taste. In the snack segment the company will introduce three new flavours of their whole grain, baked, crunchy bites – desi mazaa, pizza mazaa, chatpata mazaa. The foods are fully organic, preservative free, wholesome, fresh and healthy.
The company wants to provide households with a varied choice in all three meals so they offer more than 200 products. This gives those customers, a wide choice that wish to adopt organic in their meal choices. The fact that the meals are convenient and hassle free could make them a popular choice. The range includes staples, fruit juices, breakfast cereals, teas, jams, goodness spreads and pastes. 24 Mantra is also looking to bring in more variants so that they can do their bit to create a sustainable environment.
Analysis and forecast 2021 for breakfast cereal market
There is a clear trend that the Indian breakfast preferences are changing in urban India. Instead of time consuming options the packaged and ready-to-cook breakfasts have caused quite a stir and food companies are vying with each other to introduce new breakfast options and Indian flavours. Urban lifestyles are fast paced and packaged breakfast cereals like cornflakes, oats and muesli are popular as they are convenient. Hectic lifestyles and higher spending power are the drivers of growth in the breakfast cereal market. Besides doctors, nutritionists and even media are communicating health concerns which are propelling the market towards growth.
According to “India Breakfast Cereal Market Outlook, 2021”, India’s breakfast cereal market has been growing with a CAGR of 22.07% over the last five years. Kellogg’s India, Bagrry’s and PepsiCo Quaker have already captured about 75 percent of the market. Western India leads in the market share of breakfast cereals followed by north. Breakfast cereal market consists of two segments hot cereals like oats, oat bran and wheat bran and ready-to-eat cold cereals like cornflakes, wheat flakes and muesli. Hot cereals are growing faster than cold cereals but among the cold breakfast cereals, oats and muesli are growing faster as they are preferred by urban consumers.
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