Cookies, confectionery, cereals, canned vegetables, juices and many other Australian products companies are already on the shelves of SPAR in Bangalore, which already imports 35-40% of the snack food. 'Many Indians are travelling the world and looking for international brands back home,' says its operations manager S V Satish.
Nature's Basket owned by Godrej Foods has already placed an order for salad dressings, sauces, cereals, honey, olive oils, biscuits and crackers during the visit.
SPAR says it will import of A$1 million (US$ 860,000) worth of Australian products next year. "Each of SPAR's new stores will have two permanent gondola ends continually selling Australian products," says New South Wales Minister for Primary Industries, Energy and Mineral Resources Ian McDonald.
Buyers from SPAR and two other supermarket chains Hypercity and Nature's Basket along with a food distribution company, Epicure Foods were part of the trade mission that has just returned after spending ten days in Melbourne, Tasmania and Sydney to source quality Australian products for their fast-growing stores.
SPAR is one of the world's largest retail groups and recently entered Bangalore with a five year plan to grow a network of 30 supermarkets and 20 hypermarkets throughout South India.
Hypercity operates three outlets in Mumbai and plans another four by the end of the year including an innovative new gourmet-style store.
Nature's Basket is a premium gourmet retailer with eight outlets in upmarket areas of Mumbai and plans to have 100 outlets in 20 cities over the next three years.
Epicure Foods is a an import and distribution company servicing the retail and food service sectors in metro cities and has been appointed as a supply chain manager for SPAR.
Sanjay Tandon, MD of Epicure says,' as Australia becomes more aggressive in its exports to India and the Indian retail market grows, Australian products would be represented far more in their product range.'
The Indian buyers' visit followed a successful promotion in Bangalore last November that introduced more than 120 new food and beverage products from 22 Australian companies. They met over 45 Australian companies and experienced first hand what Australia has to offer, during this trip.
At the moment, Australian dairy products can't be imported into India, but buyers are hoping things will change by the year-end. Many Australian companies also produce food targeted at people with special dietary needs like gluten-free foods.
There is a wide range of cuisine available in Australia and retailers can ask manufacturers for specific products tailored to their specific markets. There is a general understanding in India that Australian food is clean, green and healthy.
Supermarket chains apart, many other distributors have already started importing Australian food products. Finewinesnmore, a Mumbai based wine importer, already sources Sunraysia Five Star juices which are gently pasteurised to deliver a 24 month shelf life, from Australia. Pearls Wines imported a big shipment of Australian almonds along with wine earlier this year and are planning to add more fruit based products to their portfolio.
It is no coincidence that Epicure Foods started out with import of wines, shifting later to cheese and other food products and now thinking re-entering wine imports. |