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India – the leading importer of f&b machinery
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Wednesday, 07 July, 2010, 11 : 45 AM [IST]
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Hasan Mulani, Mumbai
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Long way to bring self-sufficiency in f&b processing machinery & equipment
The Indian food processing industry is moving up at around 15 per cent per annum, so also the allied segments like processing machineries, equipment, certifications, and technology.
There are about 7,000 food processing units in the country, many of which use outdated or traditional machinery and equipment for their value addition.
According to the Ministry of Food Processing Industries (Mofpi), there are thousands of bakeries, traditional food units and fruits & vegetables processing units in the unorganised sector in India. In the organised sector, there are more than 900 flour mills, 450 fish processing units, 5300 fruit and vegetable processing units and 200 meat processing units.
Imports currently account for 10-12 per cent of the total food-processing equipment market and growing rapidly.
Further there are no restrictions on the import of food-processing equipment into India. The total duty for import of food processing equipment is 50.8 per cent.
Says Naval F Pandole, founder of “Dukes” cold drink and VP – sales and marketing at Rexam HTW Beverage Can (India) Ltd, “The Indian f&b industry being a high growth area and in its very early stages needs the import of sophisticated modern machinery and equipment which unfortunately till today is not available in the country. Today, the sector is looking at supplying equipment specific to each type of product which is capable of high production rates at an economic cost. Environmental concerns are also taken into account.”
Imported state-of-the-art machinery are much more expensive than locally available products but they offer significant benefits in terms of yield recovery, lower maintenance and better quality output.
Vimal Kedia, MD, Manjushree Technopack Ltd, said, “In India, it is only in the last decade that we have seen a flood of packaged food products. However, serious processed food manufacturers still depend heavily on Germany, Italy, and the US for machinery imports. Most of the companies customise certain machines to suit the Indian conditions of extreme humidity, and dust.”
Currently, imports from the US represent 30 per cent of the total imports of food processing equipment into India. Other major suppliers include Germany, Sweden, Switzerland, Italy, China and France.
According to the US Commerce Service, a trade promotion arm of the department of commerce’s international trade administration, major foreign food equipment manufacturers supplying to the Indian market are Alfa Laval of Sweden, Buhler India Pvt. Ltd of Switzerland, Cryovac India Pvt. Ltd of the US, Tetra Pak India Private Ltd and Schaaf Asia Pvt. Ltd of Germany.
Some major domestic food processing equipment suppliers include B Sen Barry & Co; Dr Froeb India Pvt. Ltd, C S Aerotherm, Continental Bakery Machines & Allied Products, Baker Enterprises, Indopol Food Processing Machinery Pvt. Ltd, Mittal International, PRS Technologies and Relief India, among many others.
“Foreign machinery suppliers coming to India can expect to face competition from established players as well as from a large number of small sized Indian firms. However, the Indian market offers significant export opportunities for equipment manufacturers if companies can deliver superior engineering solutions to end-users. Business deals for f&b equipment in India are generally negotiated on an individual basis through ongoing communication with end-users. This requires strong local representation to maintain strong relationships with potential customers and to call on potential customers to provide information about the company’s capabilities,” the Commerce Service said.
Growth drives
Presently technology, price, delivery and performance standards are critical factors that determine whether food processing equipment can be sold in the Indian market.
The cost of equipment and low cost production remain one of the primary factors that influence the sale of food processing equipment here.
Many f&b experts also found that upgrading would be another extremely important factor in the buying decision of the end users. The exporter would need to have a clear plan regarding the provision of upgrades and add-ons to their products, especially those required for capacity expansion. After-sales service is also a key concern of Indian buyers.
“While adopting new technology – the Indian food processors look for the QRs that includes support in maintenance and operations, higher productivity, efficient lines, automation, improved ergonomics, operators friendliness, easy maintenance, compliance with the safety and hygiene requirements,” Rajiv Dhar, secretary general of Aseptic Food Processing & Packaging Industry Association of India (Afppa) told F&B News.
According to Dhar, India is a temperature sensitive zone. Here value addition is done under 0° C to 40-45° C. “One cannot blindly import foreign equipment for processing in India. This country needs unique, flexible and easy maintenance tools to grow its value addition swiftly. I also see local availability of aseptic processing and packaging technology in cartons as a key invention to address the storage and supply chain issues in f&b category in the country,” he said.
Speaking about why India is the leading importer of f&b tools, Dhar said, “with the examples from small countries like Thailand, ultimately it is the will and business approach of entrepreneurs well assisted by the government policies that can help us in achieving Vision 2015 spelled out by the Mofpi. As far as machinery imports are concerned, I would like the Indian f&b machinery manufacturers to take note of a quote from the German shipbuilding company that I wish to relate for the food sector in India as: We manufacture good machines, at a profit if we can, at a loss if we must, but always good machines.”
Trends
In India, important food processing sub-sectors are fruit/vegetable, fish, dairy, meat & poultry processing, packaged/convenience foods, soft drinks and grain processing.
The soft drinks and the confectionery sectors have recorded the highest inflow of foreign investment in the food processing sector, followed by the fruits and vegetable products, grain based products, meat and poultry, and milk food sectors.
The domestic dairy machinery industry is quite self-reliant and proficient in developing a range of equipment such as stainless steel dairy equipment, evaporators, milk refrigerators and storage tanks, milk and cream deodorisers, centrifuges, clarifiers, agitators, homogenisers, spray dryers and heat exchangers. However, the Indian industry needs latest technology such as self-cleaning cream separators, aseptic processing systems, milk testers, processing technology for the manufacture of yogurt, amino acids/chelates for the dairy industry, and feeding systems for dairy-mixer wagons.
The world’s leading equipment companies like Hassia-Redatron, Invensys, Siebe, IMV Technologies and Tetra Pak have established manufacturing facilities and offices here through collaborations with local partners.
Major foreign collaborations in the field of dairy production and processing include ATE Enterprises Ltd with Stork Amsterdam BV of Netherlands; Pune-based Filtron Engineers Ltd with Fristam
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