National
Tata Tea plans investment in green-field beverages project in China
With a view to make a major foray into the US$ 1.3 billion tea market of China, Tata
Tea has disclosed intentions to invest in a green-field beverages project. Interestingly,
China, with its huge production of green tea has a massive domestic market of
green tea drinkers.
Speaking on this move, RK Krishna Kumar, Vice-Chairman, Tata Tea Limited, said
that the details of the project were being worked out after which it would be placed
before the Tata Tea board for approval in six months' time. He further added that the
proposed project would be in the health-drink sector. Besides this, Mr Kumar re-stated
the company's plans of exiting the plantation business, saying that it would follow the
same model in North India as it has done in South India. He also added that, Tata Tea
would exit from a joint venture plantation business in Sri Lanka. It may be recalled that
Tata Tea had announced its exit from plantation last year and subsequently, had
transferred its 17 tea estates in South India to a private limited company to be formed by
employees. The company has 24 tea estates in North India, of which 20 are in Assam
and four in Dooars in North Bengal.
New spuds developed for
potato processing industry
The Central Potato Research Institute
(CPRI) has developed five new varieties of
the spud to meet growing demands from
the potato processing industry. KR
Dhiman, Principal Scientist, CPRI, said,
"These five new varieties are ideal for the
fast-growing industry in processed products
like potato chips. These
new varieties can be grown
and harvested within 75 to
110 days." He further
added that these new
spuds, namely, Kufri
Chandermukhi, Kufri Jyoti,
Chipsona 1, Chipsona 2 and
Chipsona 3, have been
developed and tested in the past couple of
years in the natural environment at the
Institute's farms in Kufri, on the outskirts
of Shimla in Himachal Pradesh.
In quantitative terms, the CPRI
scientists suggest that, there is demand for
2,600 tonnes of seed potato in the country
every year and that potato is grown in 1.28
million hectares across the country with an
annual output of 24 million tonnes. The
average production of potato per hectare is
19.4 tonnes in India and the vegetable is
exported to Malaysia, Sri Lanka,
Bangladesh and the Gulf.
Perfetti to set up third plant
in India
Confectionery major Perfetti Van Melle,
which has five plants in Italy and over 50
worldwide, hopes to make India one of its
largest operations outside Italy, after China
and the Netherlands. Accordingly, the
company is planning to upscale its
operations in the country by setting up its
third plant. The new factory is likely to
come up in Uttaranchal or Himachal
Pradesh - a region where fiscal incentives
are easily available. According
to Stefano Pelle, VP and COO
(Russia and South Asia), Perfetti,
the third plant would have
'limited lines' in terms of the
number of products rolled out.
Perfetti in India makes some of the
leading brands of candies and chewing
gums such as Alpenliebe, Center fresh,
Cofitos, Chlor-mint and Mentos. Although
Perfetti's global portfolio consists of 50-odd
brands, in India the company has launched
only 13 brands in 2004 and seven in 2005.
However Mr Pelle confirmed that this
year's launch will have completely new
brands and some variants of the existing
ones. He further added that the company
plans to invest close to Rs 20 crore on
fixed assets at its existing plants in
Chennai and Manesar.
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