Tatas to take Samudra salt brand national

Tata Chemicals Ltd, a prominent player in the domestic salt market with its Tata Salt brand, is now planning to expand its reach through the nation-wide launch of its new crystal salt brand, 'Samudra'.

The new brand, targeted at the low-end salt market in the country, has been launched in a few southern states to test the market and found to be a success in its own segment.

"We are planning to launch 'Samudra' across the nation very soon and in the first phase of the national roll-out, we are going to launch this new brand in the north Indian states during this quarter. As 'Samudra' is strategically priced for the low-end salt market in the country which has a vast potential, we will also be taking this brand to the eastern Indian states including the north-east states where consumption of crystal salt is very high," Prasad Menon, managing director of Tata Chemicals said.

Menon, who was in Ahmedabad to attend a state government-organised function, said Tatas are at present exploring export opportunities of its salt brands and may also go for more variants.

"By the end of the last quarter, our first salt brand, Tata Salt, held a 37.6 per cent market share. We expect this to go up further during the next one year. The new variant, 'Samudra', is also expected to do well in the rest of country as its sales in Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka are found to be impressive. With the increase in demand for edible salt across the country, we find a bigger market share for both the brands," Menon said.

'Samudra' has been priced at Rs five for one kg against Tata Salt's Rs 7 a kg.

Tata Chemicals has chalked out a plan for export of high-grade salts to the MiddleEast and other countries, provided a cost-effective transportation method can be found.

The salt earmarked for export is expected to be bought by refineries and pharmaceutical companies for certain processes.

The company is manufacturing Tata Salt brand at its Mithapur plant in Jamnagar district of Gujarat.

At present, the company has no plan to set up a separate plant for 'Samudra' or for any capacity expansion in the existing plant.

Tata Chemicals will procure salt from small manufacturers, mainly in the Gandhidham and Kandla belt of Gujarat, and resell it after refining and packaging at its Mithapur plant.

It has been learnt that the company has set a target of increasing its market share in edible salt from 37 per cent at present to 41 per cent by the end of fiscal 2004-05.

Tata Chemicals expects total sales to touch Rs 1,700 crore this fiscal year against Rs 1,543 crore in the last fiscal year.

It will aim at a 10 per cent-plus growth in the next fiscal year.

At the end of the second quarter of the current fiscal year, Tata Chemicals has posted a net profit of Rs 196.74 crore with total sales of Rs 506.12 crore, against a total sales of Rs 439.07 crore reported by the end of the second quarter of the last fiscal year.

In the first six months of the current fiscal year, Tata Chemicals reported total sales of Rs 836.91 crore against Rs 788.55 crore reported by the end of September 30, 2002.