The Hindu Business Line : Agro Dutch to set up can making unit near Chennai

The details
Production is expected to start mid-2007.
Total consolidated project cost is over Rs 80 crore.
The company signs agreement with IDBI for Rs 43-cr term loan.

Chennai , Sept. 27

Agro Dutch Industries Ltd, the Chandigarh-based integrated mushroom producer and exporter, is setting up a Rs 75-crore tin can manufacturing unit near Chennai.

Easy-open-end

According to company officials, the unit, with a capacity to use about 10,000 tonnes tin plate a year to make high-tech easy-open-end cans, is coming up near Chinglepet, near Chennai.

These cans, for packaging food products, can be opened without using can-openers, hence, the name easy open-end cans.

Agro Dutch Industries is one of the largest manufacturers of food cans in India. The unit will have a 6-colour metal printing line and steel easy open-end manufacturing facility - a first of its kind in India.

Stolle of the US is providing the technology and equipment for making the cans, officials said.

The cans are meant for the domestic and export markets. Production is expected to start mid-2007. The company is in talks with overseas buyers for the cans. With the market for processed food products on the rise, the demand is also growing in the domestic market, officials said.

The total consolidated project cost is over Rs 80 crore, according to company officials.

The company has acquired 3 acres land near Chinglepet and is planning to acquire 3 more acres, according to officials.

IDBI loan

According to information provided by the company to the stock exchange, it has signed a loan agreement with Industrial Development Bank of India for a term loan of Rs 43 crore. The company will bring in Rs 12.79 crore from internal accruals.

Mushrooms exports

The can manufacturing unit is coming up near the mushroom manufacturing unit, Saptarishi Agro, owned by the promoters of Agro Dutch through Calibre Rehabs Ltd, a holding company.

Agro Dutch is a leading exporter of mushrooms in cans and has a mushroom production capacity of about 45,000 tonnes a year.

It accounts for 85 per cent of India's mushroom exports. The company, an integrated producer, also manufactures about 6,000 tonnes of cans a year and uses a third of its production to package its own mushrooms. The balance is sold to food products manufacturers.