Pepsi plans region hub for juice, pulp

PepsiCo International is planning to make India a regional sourcing hub for certain varieties of fruit juice concentrates and pulp, according to Graham Andrews, international brand director, Tropicana, the company's fruit juice division.

Pepsi Foods India is already exporting nearly 20,000 tonne of mango pulp and concentrate predominantly to west Asia and Europe.

"We are also exploring the opportunities for exporting other fruit juices like guava and litchi which can become very popular in the Asian region where consumer preferences are similar to India," said Subroto Chattopadhyay, executive director, Pepsi Foods India.

According to Chattopadhyay, the Tropicana brand has registered strong double digit growth and has outpaced the growth of the packaged fruit juices market in India. "India is a very important market for Tropicana and is among the top ten biggest markets for the brand," said Andrews.

Pepsi Foods is expecting its special citrus growing project in Punjab to start producing results very soon. The company sources orange juice concentrates from Brazil but through the ongoing project, Pepsi is trying to develop a large grower base which can produce high juice yielding oranges to match its requirements.

"India produces 47 million tonne of fruits providing us an exciting export opportunity within the Asia-Pacific region," added Chattopadhyay.

"We have started with orange and will look at developing superior varieties of pineapple in the North-east and Kerala," said Chattopadhyay.

Pepsi's international team of experts has been visiting farms and processing units to provide key technical inputs.