The Hindu Business Line : Oceanic Edibles to set up food processing units

Unveiling plans
The proposed processing plant will have two units (to process marine foods and vegetables and fruits) with an overall 3.5 tonnes an hour capacity.
The firm’s hatcheries division will supply seed and feed with buyback guarantee to farmers with whom it has tied up for contract farming.

R. Ravikumar

Chennai, April 18 Oceanic Edibles International Ltd, part of the Chennai-based shrimp hatcheries major Oceanaa Group, is setting up a full-fledged marine food products, vegetables and fruits processing plant and aseptic packaging unit — at an investment outlay of Rs 90 crore.

Shrimp hatcheries

According to Mr Joseb Raj, Chairman and Managing Director of the group, the facilities are coming up at the company’s existing shrimp hatcheries facility at Marakkanam, near Puducherry. Oceanic Edibles, started as a shrimp hatcheries unit in 1995, currently has two facilities (spread over 82 acres) for hatcheries with seed capacity of over 400 million. Later in the year 2007, it acquired the Kochi-based Amalgam Marine Products Ltd — which had a 320-acre downstream shrimp farming facility at Poompuhar in Tamil Nadu — for a consideration of Rs 7.5 crore.

“As we have been in the shrimp hatcheries business for over a decade and also having stepped into shrimp farming ourselves, it’s very natural and sensible for us to have our own processing plant,” said Mr Raj.

Plant capacity

The proposed processing plant will have two units (to process marine foods and vegetables and fruits) with an overall 3.5 tonnes an hour capacity. It also plans to foray into the retail segment with a chain of stores under the brand Fish ‘n’ Fresh and the first outlet is set to open on Sunday (April 20). The processing plant and the retail plans together will involve an investment of Rs 55 crore. Mr Raj said it will be funded through 80:20 debt-equity. “We have got sanction letters from Nabard and Indian Overseas Bank for term loans for the purpose,” he said. According to him, the work has started and the unit will be up and running before the end of this calendar year.

As the company is planning to run the unit to its full capacity, it tied up with farmers for contract farming of prawns. “Our hatcheries division will supply seed and feed with buyback guarantee to those farmers,” he added. That apart, Oceanic Edibles also plans to put up a facility to culture other species of fishes including seaboss, cuttle and squid.

Other interests

For the Rs 37-crore aseptic packaging project, which will be funded through 60:40 debt-equity, the company has arranged a term loan from the State Bank of India. The facility will be utilised to package the processed vegetables, fruit purees and concentrates. The group is also into software business. However, with almost Rs 400 crore contribution to its Rs 500-crore turnover, the marine business — Oceanic Edibles International Ltd — is the group’s mainstay.

More Stories on : Aquaculture | Contract Farming | Retailing | Foods & Food Processing

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