'Delicious' margarine to hit markets soon

The Gujarat Co-operative milk Marketing Federation Ltd (GCMMF), which sells the Amul brand of products, will soon introduce margarine. Last week, the Rs 2,900 crore co-operative dairy giant, completed the test marketing of its 'Delicious' margarine in Delhi, Mumbai and Ahmedabad.

The product will be available in 100 gm and 500 gm packs priced at Rs 11 and Rs 54, respectively. The GCMMF will also launch a 15 kg tin pack for the bulk buyers such as bakers and hotels.

The margarine contains minimum 80 per cent vegetable fat and is considered an alternative to butter. The margarine is a low cost product compared to butter and contains no lower cholesterol.

"The product is used world over as an alternative to butter by the people with cardiac ailments. The rationale behind launching the alternative to the existing strong product, Amul butter, is to make an early entry into the product category," said R S Sodhi, general manager - dairy line, GCMMF.

"It would be too early to set a target, but we will try to push the sales with all our marketing channels," added Sodhi.

Margarine will be produced in Kaira District Co-operative Milk Producers' Union plant based at Anand.

In north India, the product will be distributed by the existing Amul ice-cream distributors. New distributors will be appointed in certain pockets. As of now, GCMMF has no plans to advertise the Delicious margarine.

"The market is very much restricted with only a few producers based at Ahmedabad and Kolkata. At present, we are targeting only the institutional buyers such as restaurants, hotel and bakers," added Sodhi.

The product has a shelf life of six months under refrigeration. The product can be applied on toast and brad like butter, and can be used in cooking Punjabi and continental dishes.