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P. Manoj

NEW DELHI, March 20

Are you worried about the quality of fruits and vegetables you buy these days from the local market, which are carted from far-off places on trucks? Container Corporation of India Ltd (Concor), a PSU under the Railway Ministry, has a solution.

Logistics services major Concor is drawing up plans to enter the cold supply chain business to move agricultural produce under controlled conditions between the production centres, cold stores and retail outlets.

The business is currently a domain of small fringe players in the unorganised sector, catering mostly to cold storage facilities for preserving potatoes.

"Concor is exploring opportunities in this line of business either on its own or through a special purpose vehicle. Most probably, it will be a SPV as we need strong partners to run this business," a top Concor official told Business Line.

Concor is currently assessing the market potential, technology and the infrastructure requirements of the business. It has hired a professional market research agency to prepare a survey of the sector. "Based on the survey, we will finalise a detailed business plan for the project and put it up to the board of directors for approval," the official said.

Despite being the second largest producer of fresh fruits and vegetables, the country is a virtual non-entity on the world trade map in terms of the global trade volumes. Due to lack of post-harvest management facilities, absence of suitable cold stores and the lack of an organised distribution system, the wastage of fresh produce in India is as much as 25 per cent.

As a result, neither does the produce reach the consumer in the optimal condition nor does the producer get fairly remunerated. However, consumers are becoming increasingly conscious about quality, hygiene and freshness of food.

This consciousness is driving a growth in organised food services and retail. "Organised cold supply chain is the crying need of the hour," the official said.

Apart from handling frozen products, a cold chain involves the management and distribution of fresh produce under controlled temperature and controlled atmosphere to preserve quality and prevent wastage right from the post-harvest stage to the retail end.

This will be done by setting up several warehouses located across the country having the latest technology such as controlled atmosphere, controlled temperature and deep-freeze facilities for processing and storage of produce.

"The main aim is to prolong the shelf-life of the produce so that even during off-seasons, fruits and vegetables of good quality will be available at reasonable prices," the official said. The fruits and vegetables which are proposed to be preserved will be apple, banana, grapes, lime, litchi, mango, mosambi, pineapple, papaya, brinjal, bitter gourd, green chillies, peas, cabbage, cauliflower, ginger, garlic, etc. The cold storage will also cater to dairy products such as chocolates and pharmaceutical products of HLL, Dabur and Nestle, among others.

Concor has identified Rai near Sonepat in Haryana as the first of its locations for a cold store. The Haryana State Industrial Development Corporation (HSIDC), which is setting up a food processing zone at Rai, has supported Concor's move to enter the cold supply chain business by allotting land for the venture.

"This will promote synergies between HSIDC's food processing zone and Concor's own cold chain services in a mutually beneficial manner," the official said.

The Railway Minister, Mr Nitish Kumar, laid the foundation stone for the cold chain complex of Concor in Rai on March 1. If Concor makes in-roads into this hitherto unchartered territory for organised players in the country, it could push traders dealing with imported fruits such as apples out of business.

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