Adani Wilmar sees food business growing 3x over oils in next five years

Known for its prowess in the edible oils category, FMCG major Adani Wilmar Limited sees its revenues from the food business growing three-times faster than the traditional edible oils business in next five years, courtesy growing consumer preference for packaged branded foods.

The company’s deputy CEO, Angshu Mallick, said that the Fortune brand in its 20-year history has emerged as the country’s No. 1 edible oil brand, but the coming years will see a drastic change in the revenue mix with its strong food portfolio.

Its food portfolio, which began with besan (gram flour) in 2013, has now expanded to packaged wheat flour, basmati rice, pulses, sugar, ready-to-cook khichdi and the recently-launched soya chunkies.

“Of the total estimated revenues of about ₹30,000 crore, edible oils under the Fortune brand are still about 80 per cent of the business. The food business is about ₹2,000 crore, which we expect to grow three times faster than edible oils due to increased consumer preference for packaged branded foods,” Mallick said in a media interaction marking 20 years of Fortune.

Mallick also stated that unlike the past 20 years, when most of the growth came from commodity and edible oil business, the next five years will see a CAGR of about 15 per cent riding on the growth in the food business, which is expected to take the company’s overall turnover to about ₹50,000 crore.

Oil prices

“This year we have seen oil prices going up by about 20 per cent, which has also reflected in our turnover. Even if the volumes may have gone down due to Covid-19 disruptions, but the price rise in recent months reflects on the higher turnover,” Mallick stated.

Adani Wilmar, which was set up as a 50-50 joint venture between Adani Group and Singapore’s agri trading player Wilmar International Limited, had set up its first edible oil refinery at Mundra port with capacity of 600 tonnes per day, which has now reached to 5000 tonnes per day.

“We have sufficient capacities to meet the growing demand for the next three years. But we will continue to focus on local oils such as mustard oil. Going forward we will invest more in mustard oil and drive the atmanirbhar objective in the edible oil sector. If farmers in Pubjab and Haryana turn to mustard seed cultivation it will be a big boost,” Mallick informed.

The Fortune brand was launched on November 24, 2000, with three products — Fortune Soyabean Oil, Fortune Sunflower Oil and Fortune Cottonseed Oil. Processed at company’s port-based refinery, which handled huge quantities of imported crude edible oils.

Today it offers edible oils spanning across soya, sunflower, cottonseed, mustard, groundnut, rice bran, and functional oils like, Fortune Xpert Pro Sugar Conscious Oil. The company also has a presence in the personal care category with its soap, handwash and sanitisers under the Alife brand.