Financial Daily from THE HINDU group of publications
Tuesday, Jun 22, 2004
Financial Daily from THE HINDU group of publications Tuesday, Jun 22, 2004 |
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Marketing
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Strategy Mother Dairy plans to widen product range Sindhu J. Bhattacharya
New Delhi , June 21 AFTER milk, dahi, ice-cream, flavoured milk and butter, Mother Dairy has decided to enter a whole new product range under its twin brands - Mother Dairy and Safal - to be able to achieve the targeted Rs 1,300 crore sales turnover this fiscal and take its operations truly national. The company, a wholly owned subsidiary of National Dairy Development Board (NDDB), said on Monday that it plans to get into ultra heat treated (UHT) milk, ghee and paneer under the Mother Dairy brand over the next two months. Also on the anvil is extension of its fruit and vegetable brand Safal to more frozen vegetables, fruit juices and perhaps even ready-to- eat meals. Mother Dairy has decided to be present in the entire gamut of milk and milk-related products under the Mother Dairy brand and through Safal in processed foods. While no details were available on whether the company will manufacture these new products itself or use the third-party contract route, Mother Dairy plans to come out with all these new additions over the next two months. It has already launched a dairy whitener in the North Eastern market, while its butter business was begun last year. "We are looking at Rs 1,300 crore sales this year from twin brands Mother Dairy and Safal against Rs 1,100 crore in 2003-04," company officials told Business Line. While no details were available on whether Mother Dairy plans to contract manufacture the new dairy products, industry sources said that it may be sourcing its dairy whitener from a Karnal-based manufacturer and is still trying to tie up with a manufacturer for UHT milk. The Rs 150-crore UHT milk market is dominated by co-operatives like the Gujarat Co-operative Milk Marketing Federation (GCMMF), Vijaya and Saras with only Amrit Vanaspati and Nestle representing the private sector. Meanwhile, the Rs 165-crore Safal brand is being extended to fruit juices, to begin with. Safal juices, initially in four varieties, are being priced competitively against two existing brands - Tropicana from Pepsi and Real from Dabur Foods - and the company says that this range will be upgraded shortly. "We want to make Safal a Rs 300-crore brand over the next five years. This will entail getting into more and more frozen vegetables through increased backward linkages with farmers. Also, Safal may be extended to convenience and packaged foods. We cannot also rule out ready-to-eat meals under Safal but no decision has been taken on this as yet. Basically, we want to enter into synergistic product segments," officials said. Safal is present in frozen peas, jams, sauces and ketchups. Industry sources indicated that the namkeens under this brand may be phased out, in keeping with the brand overhaul. Company officials also said that the brand would be stocked at retail points other than the 300 Mother Dairy outlets where it is currently available, in order to widen distribution.
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