Beverages & Food Processing Times-Oct-I-2012
Sugar
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Sugar Industry At the doorstep of Retail Revolution even to explore possibility for export of value added sugar in retail packs. Sugar factories located near metros will be most benefited in the era of Retail revolution in the offing. The retail sugar packaging set up by manufacturers will drastically reduce the distance between farms to fork which is main mantra of retailers. The main criteria for setting up such facilities are · Round the year operation of such facility instead of seasonal process of Sugar manufacturing.
D
ifferentiation is key to success in large commodity markets which are largely governed by price competitiveness! The Pioneering & visionary efforts in sugar branding were taken by Mawana Sugar Delhi leading corporate from Sugar Industry way back during 1993. Initially to meet the regulations this sugar producers even went to the extent to pack 100 nos. of 1kg pouches in gunny bags & take out from the factory. Subsequently government thru its notifications during July 1997 allowed sugar factories to pack sugar in 1 to 10kg pouches. Over the years total 20 sugar brands entered Domestic market & could establish themselves successfully. The present retail boom will further boost demand for branded sugar to cater changed consumer requirements of value added sugar products. This will lead to setting up of ultra-modern sugar packaging facilities by manufacturers themselves to meet requirements of supermarkets directly. Present excess Sugar production has forced sugar factories to think differently & cope up fast changing consumer psychology. The introduction of flavored sugar & development of value added sugar variants is indication of fast changing Industry. Consistent quality & Grain size etc of product is basic requirement for branded sugar & lot of work has been done in the Industry in this direction. Brand Managers & Marketing set ups are developed by leading corporate Sugar players which otherwise would be unheard in sugar Industry. Contract Packing set ups needed by Retailers nearby most of cities will be big opportunity particularly for cooperative sugar sector which will in turn create local employment for rural India. The co-packing set ups can be used
· Consistent quality of sugar preferably refined as per international norms. · ·Special efforts for Hygienic packaging of sugar by avoiding entry of dust or foreign particles by use of dust collection as well as metal detection system in the packaging facility. This will help in meeting stringent quality expectations by alert customers of Branded products. · Automated packing set up to avoid any manual handling of sugar by adding even the post packaging systems. · Huge requirement of retail sugar packs if clubbed with quality product then sky is the limit for its market.
· ISO & HACCP certification by such facilities will help in promotion of the branded products internationally.. · Value added sugar will help in catering to High end pharma, soft drink & Hospitality Industry · Developing of marketing network adopting new age techniques for branded sugar marketing in Domestic as well as International markets. The VFFS machines suitable for various pack format options are available for catering to different emerging segments of sugar referred above. The VFFS machines cater to Sugar Industry requirement to pack 500g to 10kg packs using common machine for all the denominations which is major chunk of requirement for Retail sector. Nichrome India Ltd. has introduced Smart pack format on their VFFS machines which is launch of new pack format for the Industry. This format offers Prominent Aesthetics for display on shelf & minimal consumption of packing material as well. In case of Hospitality Industry Stickpack machines offer Single Serve sachets to cater both Airline & Hotel Industry. The Lengthy user friendly sticks in
center seal sachets for Airlines & Typical three side seal sachets for Hotel Industry requirements can be taken care off by using machine offering flexible pack formats. Further to above Kisan Veer Co-op sugar factory from Maharashtra has succeeded in introducing pharma sugar which is indication of change in mind set even by co-operatives to come out of crisis situation. Natural Sugar is setting up refinery to introduce sugar to retail sector. We are aware of transformation in the Dairy sector by co-operatives & Private sector players brought in the life of farmers. Can Sugar factories & Dairies join hands for retail marketing of Sugar & bring such transformation/value addition to certain extent for Sugar Sector? Definitely the industry will ride the retail boom!!! R.J.Rayanade General Manager Nichrome India Limited Saffire Park Galleria Second Floor 4, Pune Mumbai Road Shivajinagar Pune 411005 Phone # +91 20 6011001 Extn 204 Cell +91 93702 60064 Website www.nichrome.com Email rayanade@nichrome.com