Satnam rides on rice export boom

Its export of basmati rice surged by 95 per cent to Rs 21.22 crore. Besides, some of the new products introduced by it also recorded impressive initial sales.

The company's announcement said it had entered into a strategic tie-up with the leading direct selling company Amway India to supply 300,000 units of 2 kgs weight each to be marketed through 60,000 Amway distributors. The deal was valued at around Rs 30 million in the first phase.

The company was exploring new markets, such as China, Malaysia, Thailand and elsewhere in Asia, to extend its reach in the mainstream global basmati market.

Commenting on the company's performance in the first half of 2003-04, Satnam's joint managing-director Gurnam Arora said the company had seen a robust growth in basmati exports and had consolidated its leadership in the domestic markets. The profits had also gone up due to reduction in interest costs and better working capital management.

"We are continuing to focus on increasing our global market share in basmati rice, promoting our flagship 'Kohinoor' brand both in basmati as well as through introduction of new value-added premium food products', he said. The new products include Kohinoor heat-and-eat vegetables, Kohinoor Numkeens and Kohinoor rice and spice.