Snacks / Namkeen / Mithai

FDI eyes Gujarat to establish units for frozen potato items

agronfoodFebruary 15, 2020

Feb 15, 2020

Gujarat is the largest producer and exporter of frozen potato-based products in India, particularly French fries. With easy availability of processing variety of potato in the state, several domestic companies are growing and expanding their production, revealed snacks industry stakeholders.

Gujarat is all set to welcome an inflow of foreign investments as the state has the potential of growing snack-favourable potato variety to manufacture frozen potato-based products. Quite a few American and European companies are planning to invest in manufacturing facilities for frozen potato-based products or in the food processing equipment sector.
“Foreign players are looking to invest in Gujarat because of the availability of process-variety potatoes. Investment from several European companies alone in the equipment, manufacturing and allied sectors is pegged at 200 million euros (More than Rs. 1,500 crore) in Gujarat in the next two years,” said Paul Oosterlaken, director, Kiremko, a Dutch food processing equipment manufacturing company.

“In the food processing equipment sector, we are looking to invest roughly 35 million euros in the coming year and a half. Foreign companies are looking to invest in Gujarat, because it may be easily used as a production hub and supplier for processed potato products,” Oosterlaken further added.

“Kiremko is also working to install flake manufacturing equipment in units at Mehsana, Vadnagar and Visnagar,” said a senior company executive.

Industry sources revealed that other firms are also eyeing investments in the state and according to them, “McCain is already a well-established manufacturer in the state of Gujarat. With addition to that, US-based Company is also eyeing long-term investments in the state, whose representatives have recently visited the state and site”.

“Gujarat is an ideal location for cultivation of processing potatoes, it is likely to attract more investments in the sector. There is a rising demand for frozen potato-based products globally. Against the global market size of 15 million metric tons for frozen potato-based products, Indian exports are barely scratching the surface,” said Haresh Karamchandani, CEO, HyFun Foods, manufactures frozen potato food products at Mehsana.