US based pistachios player Paramount Farms, which has a local manufacturing base in Vadodara in Gujarat, plans to double sourcing of almonds and pistachios in 2013.
The company has completed its expansion plans in Vadodara and currently has a capacity to process 3 million pounds (1 kg is equal to 2.2 pounds) of roasting and salting. "We were operating from a smaller plant in Makarpura near Vadodara earlier which had a processing capacity of around one million pounds. We have moved to new premises in the Waghodia Industrial estate near Vadodara. The new plant built over 36,000 square feet space has three times the capacity over our old plant. We invested around Rs 55 lakh on machinery and environmental clearances etc", said Naresh Gupta, country manager, India, Paramount Farms.
He added that "With the move, we've been able to increase our Diwali packaging capacity as well as the capability to de-shell, roast and package 'Wonderful' brand of almonds."
Paramount is also planning to double the sourcing of almonds and pistachios in the next financial year from a current 500,000 pounds per annum to around one million pounds of almonds and pistachios.
Of these, around 600,000 pounds would be pistachios and 400,000 pounds of almonds. The company follows a crop-year fiscal, which is September to August. It just finished its 2011-12 fiscal in September.
India imported around 14 million pounds of pistachios in 2011-12, of which 50 per cent was in-shell and the rest was kernels. About 55-60 per cent of the in-shell segment was procured from California. The landed cost of pistachios is around $4 per pound, Gupta informed.
Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore are the major markets for Paramount in India. Gupta said that during the Diwali festivities, demand in Delhi is likely to grow eight to ten times, while the Bangalore market would see a two to three times surge in demand.
As for Gujarat, he said that while Gujarat is a price-sensitive market, it is nonetheless an important market for Paramount.
"While our focus markets are major metros, however, owing to our production base in the state, we have been able to expand our distribution network in Gujarat from major cities like Ahmedabad, Vadodara and Surat to smaller towns like Vapi, Jamnagar, Gandhidham etc", Gupta said.
Talking about branding initiatives, he explained that "We have allocated a budget of $ 1 million (Rs 5.45 crore ) towards marketing outreach, advertising, and consumer education. We conducted a test marketing campaign in Bangalore which included print, radio and outdoor advertising, on-ground activation teams, in-store sampling, and a mass sampling effort with a leading Bangalore daily publication."
