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India’s leading concentrated drinks manufacturer Rasna Beverages is scouting for dussehri mango pulp suppliers in Uttar Pradesh to market bottled mango juice.
Currently, the company is sourcing mango from South India for its newly launched juice brand Ju-C.
“Unfortunately, we have yet not been able to find Dussehri mango pulp suppliers, although we had visited the state mango belts before launching our juice brand,” Rasna President and Chief Executive Officer Arshad Siddiqui told Business Standard here.
The domestic fruit juice and beverage market is pegged at Rs 5,000 crore, of which mango juice alone accounts for almost 80 per cent, Siddiqui informed. UP market is estimated at Rs 550 crore.
“The fruit juice and beverage segment is clocking growth of about 25 per cent,” he said.
He said the annual consumption of fruit juices in India was about 1,200 million litres. Rasna has entered the ready-to-drink beverage segment with Ju-C, offering apple, orange, mixed, guava and pineapple flavours.
“We are still on the lookout of a company which could supply pulp of Dussehri mango to us for processing into mango juice drink,” he said.
Dussehri is grown extensively in UP, mainly in Lucknow and Saharanpur regions. It is known for its unique sweetness, texture and aroma.
Situated on Lucknow-Hardoi highway, Malihabad town in Lucknow district is famous for its mango plantations, especially Dussehri, which was also granted geographical indication (GI) registration in 2009.
The mango belts in UP include Lucknow (Lucknow, Malihabad, Bakshi-ka-Talaab), Saharanpur and Sambhal-Amroha-Muzaffarnagar districts.
Lucknow mango belt spans over 25,000 hectares. In 2013, UP mango production was estimated at about 1.5 million tonnes, much lower than 3.8 million tonnes last year.
Mango Grower Association of India has long been seeking central government support on mango-based food processing industries.
