Financial Daily from THE HINDU group of publications
Friday, Mar 12, 2004
Financial Daily from THE HINDU group of publications Friday, Mar 12, 2004 |
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Marketing
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Brands Bunge to fortify Dalda post-takeover Our Bureau
Mr Christopher S. White, Asia-Pacific Head, Bunge Ltd, at a press conference announcing plans to revitalise the Dalda brand in the Capital on Thursday. — Ramesh Sharma
New Delhi , March 11 BUNGE Ltd, the $22 billion-plus New York-based agri-business major, is planning to "re-launch and revitalise" the Dalda vanaspati brand. The company acquired the brand from Hindustan Lever Ltd (HLL) in August 2003 along with the latter's entire edible oil and fats business in India and Nepal. Speaking to presspersons here on Thursday, the Asia-Pacific Head of Bunge Ltd, Mr Christopher S. White, admitted that Dalda's business had taken a big knock in recent times, notwithstanding its formidable seven-decade-old brand legacy that made vanaspati virtually synonymous with it. The country's annual consumption of vanaspati (hydrogenated vegetable oil) is currently estimated at about 1.3 million tonnes (m.t), of which the branded segment comprises 25 per cent. "We account for a fifth of the branded vanaspati market today, which translates into annual sales of around 60,000-65,000 tonnes. This is way below the 100,000 tonnes of annual business that Dalda used to do once upon a time," Mr White noted. According to him, the downslide had a lot to do with the fact that HLL had ceased to have strategic interest in Dalda and did not commit sufficient time, resources or promotional support for either the brand or the vanaspati sub-category. "In the absence of communication, the value perception of vanaspati among households has steadily come down and the resulting vacuum has been filled by refined oils. But for us, edible oil and fats form part of our core business and, therefore, we look forward to not only re-launching and revitalising the Dalda vanaspati brand, but even extending it to packaged edible oils and other cooking media such as ghee and margarine," he said. The brand re-vitalisation exercise being contemplated would involve "transformation of the way food looks, tastes and makes you see" and also a "novel 422-town direct consumer contact programme" for Dalda. Apart from acquiring HLL's entire Rs 390-crore edible oils and fats business for a `slump sale' consideration of Rs 90 crore (including the manufacturing facility at Tiruchi, Tamil Nadu, the right to use HLL's distribution network for Dalda and extension brands such as Masterline, Gold Seal, Marvo, Biskin and Lily for a fee), Bunge also took over the assets of Indore-based Prestige Foods Ltd in September 2003. These included an oilseeds processing unit at Pithampur (near Indore), with a production capacity of 150 tonnes per day of refined oil and 100 tonnes per day of vanaspati. In addition to these, Bunge Agribusiness India Pvt Ltd, a 100 per cent subsidiary of the parent, also owns the Chambal refined oil brand and a manufacturing plant at Bundi in Rajasthan. "We are also the largest soyabean oil shipper to India, accounting for 4.2 lakh tonnes or 30 per cent of the total quantity imported by the country. With a global capacity of 34 m.t, we are the world's leading oilseeds processor and the biggest seller of bottled vegetable oil," Mr White said.
More Stories on : Brands | Oilseeds & Edible Oil | Market Shares
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