May 13, 2021
Mondelēz’ sales in India crossed $1 billion last year and the country is now the third-biggest market for Oreo biscuits after the US and China. Also, the market share of the flagship brand Cadbury Dairy Milk in India is one of the highest for Mondelēz.
But Dirk Van de Put – Mondelez global chairman has blamed festivals and elections for rising covid cases in India but said sales will not get impacted. He said the restrictions are only about 10%. So 10% of the population is under severe lockdown, and these lower types of restrictions do not materially affect access to our products. But if these restrictions would be more expanded, that could give us some pockets of disruption to our opinion.
During the nationwide lockdown last year, sales of ready-to-eat and packaged products surged after consumers hunkered down in their homes due to the Covid19 restrictions.
But chocolates, an impulse product, were affected especially as it is partly skewed towards away-from-home consumption and convenience. This has reversed now. The company said India delivered extraordinary growth underpinned by robust consumption in chocolate and biscuit and the country’s growth on a two-year average was double-digit and higher than pre-COVID rates.
Mondelez added about 3.6 lakh retail stores over the past two years and entered newer categories such as chocolate bakery.
The Indian unit of Mars Inc, the company behind Snickers and Wrigley said it will be cautious in the next three to six months in the country but won’t press the panic button amid rising infections and market restrictions.
“Our global intelligence system always told us that we have to keep being careful because there are enough waves being seen in many other markets. One or two quarters, we will be a bit more cautious. You won’t see any panic coming from anywhere globally, but we will also take this time to prepare better for quarter four of 2021,” Mars Wrigley India general manager Kalpesh Parmar.
Britannia Industries said it asked sales staff to refrain from stepping out even if the distribution is affected in the short term, in view of the alarming rise in Covid-19 infections. “
Mondelez too said the safety of the employees is their key priority amid the struggle that the country is going through. We are giving all the support we can to our local team.