Food & Beverage News: F&B Specials - Italy wants to have a finger in India's food pie

A technical seminar/workshop on Italian Technologies for Food Processing & Packaging was organised by the Italian Trade Commission at Hyatt Regency in Mumbai on Tuesday, November 11, with presentations by six Italian companies. Representatives from several Italian companies in the field were present and also showing interest at the event were some Indian companies who are in food processing and packaging.

The event preceded the three-day Food&Bev Tech 2008 held on November 13-15 at Bandra-Kurla complex, Mumbai.

Welcoming the delegates, Bernard Prevete, deputy trade commissioner, said there was tremendous improvement and upgradation in technologies in the food and beverage sector in his country. Italian companies are offering innovative technologies, machines and equipment all over the world in areas like pasta-making, confectionery, dairy, wine-making and packaging solutions. There are huge opportunities for the Italian companies in the food processing sector in India, which is lacking modern technologies and safety and quality of food products matching international standards. The seminar/workshop on Italian Technologies for Food Processing & Packaging was one of the many initiatives the Italian Trade Commission has initiated in this sector and there would be many more focused events planned in the food processing & packaging sector over the next one year.

Addressing the gathering, K C Mani, executive director, Business Development Bureau (India) Pvt. Ltd, Pune, said India had to go a long way in food processing and packaging.

With a growing middle class which is becoming health and quality conscious, there is tremendous scope for processed value-added food. Dairy, bakery, confectionery, breakfast cereals, fruits, hot beverages like coffee and tea are some of the areas where transition is taking place. The buzzword is "improvement, efficiency and meeting the world standard." Packaging, he said, should be sophisticated, not only to attract the consumers but also to ensure safety and quality of food products. He said the domestic food processing equipment market was worth 560 million euro providing countries like Italy great opportunities to invest here.

P N V Nair, editor of Food & Beverage News, said India was a gold mine for investors in food processing and packaging technologies and machines & equipment. Being the largest producer of milk at more than 100 million tonnes per year, second largest producer of food grains, sugar, fruits and vegetables and one of the leading producers of poultry, meat and marine products, tea and coffee, India is poised to become the food factory of the world. For countries like Italy, there is an opportunity for large investments in food processing technologies and equipment, especially in areas of dairy, confectionery, frozen food, fruit juices, wine making, packaging etc.

Presentations were made by six Italian companies. Betuzzi Food Processing SRL, which specialises in juice and nectar, supplies plants and machines to more than 100 countries. There are separate machines for chilled juice, pasteurised and non-pasteurised juices. The company offers machinery for orange, apple, pineapple, mango, pomegranate, carrot, grape, guava, passion fruit, lemon, apricot/peach etc.

La Monferrina SRL, supplies pasta making machines. Started in 1979 for wine making, the company is now focusing on pasta making and supplies machines to the smallest cafeteria to full-blown factories. The company was represented by Agaram Industries based in Chennai.

Pavan SRL is a food processing equipment supplier almost 61 years old. A market leader in pasta machines, it is also well-known as a supplier of snack food plant and equipment. The company claims to produce state-of-the-art food processing plants which are technically advanced and of top-notch quality. It is able to produce pastas in different shapes - short cut pasta, long cut pasta, nest shaped pasta and fresh pasta. It also manufactures packing equipment for all its products and also for candy and biscuits. The company sells this equipment under the brand name Stiavelli.

Synchrosys SRL, based in Turin, north-west of Italy, specialises in packaging machinery, robotics, special equipment for confectionery, dry baked products and snacks. The company has introduced several innovations in packaging styles.

Techne SRL calls packaging as the retail challenge. India is moving from traditional to modern retailing. In India organised retailing is just 2% against 80% in the US. According to the company, packaging must be convenient by price, easy & quick in identification, attractive in design and easy to dispose of. Quality, consistency and long shelf life are the main characteristics of a good packaging system, whether it is plastics, bottles, or PET. The company is mainly into dairy packaging.

Priamo SRL, another company present at the event, is in the field of design and construction of dairy equipment.

The presentations were followed by B2B meetings between representatives of the Indian companies and Indian entrepreneurs in food processing and packaging.