Food products giant Cargill India is relaunching 'Sweekar', the refined sunflower oil brand it acquired from Marico for Rs 60 crore in 2011, in its earlier avatar to regain lost ground.
"When we acquired Sweekar from Marico, we changed the product and converted it into a high-end sunflower oil, so it became a superior product. We changed the packaging and had to pass on the extra cost to the consumer. The price went up by 30-35 per cent," Cargill Foods India Director (Consumer Pack Vertical) Aseem Soni told PTI.
"As a result, the brand lost about 30 per cent of the consumers because they either did not understand this (new) concept of high oleic sunflower oil, the top-end sunflower oil or could not afford the 30-35 per cent hike," he said.
"To get that 30 per cent (of consumers) back, we are going to relaunch the earlier avatar of Sweekar as Sweekar 100 per cent sunflower oil and also retain the top-end space with Sweekar Advanced."
Sweekar Advanced, the premium oil, is priced at Rs 145 per litre and Sweekar would be launched at Rs 95 per litre.
The company will be launching the product in the North, West and East regions next week, he said, adding, the brand would be available in most towns in 15-30 days.
"Sweekar was never strong in the South. So we will not be focusing there. The launch will be limited to North, West and East of the country. When we launched Sweekar Advanced two years back, we never found any traction in the South."
The US-based food products company, which entered India in 1987, does not plan to extend the brand portfolio to other oils like mustard, groundnut, soyabean and stick only to sunflower oil.
Soni said the company has expanded capacity in its three plants over the last six months that can cater to the demand till the end of 2015.
