Bon appetite

Imported processed food and wine market set to explode

Foreign food and wines companies are gung-ho on India. Afact corroborated by the two trade fairs in Delhi that project the country as an emerging market for top-of the-line processed foods and spirits.

The International Food, Drink and Hospitality Exhibition (IFDE), which began on January 7 concludes today at Pragati Maidan. The three-day India Food and Wine (IFW) show concludes tomorrow at the Taj Palace.

"There is a growing population of wine drinkers in India," says Giovanni Di Naccio of the Italian wine manufacturer Citra Vini.

"According to in-house estimates there are 200 million wine drinkers here and the number is growing every day. We want to be part of this booming trade," he adds.

Naccio says his company is looking at a target of exporting 100,000 cases of wine to India in five years. "In Asia, India will be second only to Japan in wine consumption," he adds.

Di Naccio isn't the only one upbeat about business prospects in India. R N Gupta, senior advisor (trade), Canadian High Commission feels that recent trends have shown a growing population of wine lovers.

"It's still in a nascent stage, but I guess that annually India consumes about 400,000 cases of wine. Of this 100,000 cases are imported. With the government slashing duties the import of wine will increase," he says.

France, the land of wine and fine dining, has been conducting wine tasting sessions in India since 1999 through Sopexa, a French association for the promotion of food and beverages.

Says Rajiv Singhal, Sopexa's representative in India: "At the IFW there are 11 exhibitors from France. This surely means that India is high on the French exporters list. It'll take time to develop the market for fine food but wine has established itself in India. Consumption can only grow from the roughly 400,000 cases a year."

He is sure that in the next five years foie gras, truffles and chartcouterie would be readily available in India.

Data available with Indian government's ministry of food processing industries suggests that there are 1 billion consumers in India.

Of this, the middle and upper class which consumes processed food is pegged at 300 million. By the end of the decade, 200 million more will consume processed food.

Thanate Suterapat, export marketing manager of Thailand-based C&A Products says that his company has been exporting to India for the last six months.

"With a good Indian partner we can do business of over $500,000 in the first year itself." C&A manufactures coconut products (milk, cream, jelly and juice) and other canned fruit juices.

Clearly, awareness and rise in disposable income have made India the next big market for wines and food.

"With a rationalisation in import duties, Indian consumers can have the best on their table," says Elizabeth Sullivan, Australian Trade Commissioner in Delhi.