Satnam Overseas will commence commercial operations of its one million pound basmati rice processing plant in the United Kingdom by June this year."All formalities are over, and the processing plant would start commercial operations in June," Satnam Arora, joint managing director of Satnam Overseas, said today.The plant at Felixtowe, 100-mile from London, will have a processing capacity of eight tonne of basmati rice per hour.At present, the over Rs 500 crore agro-based, food processing company exports 6,000 tonne basmati rice to the European Union including the UK. After June, the entire EU export quantum will be processed at the UK plant.It plans to raise the processing capacity subsequently in tune with its ambitious 10,000 tonne basmati export to the EU."Funds for setting up the first-ever overseas plant is being generated through internal accruals," Arora said.The company recently got the BRC quality certification from UK for its flagship brand Kohinoor. The quality certification would help the company's branded products, including basmati rice, find a place at the departmental stores in UK.
