Vipin V Nair

The company hopes to sell 5.6 million fruit juice packets this fiscal compared to one million units last year.

Kochi , July 19

WITH its lush green fields, rubber plantations and a river running through, Nadukkara, some 45 kms from here, is just the right place for a holiday, than a location to plan business strategies to take on formidable rivals.

But that's the task at hand for the management of the Nadukkara Agro Processing Co Ltd (NAPCL), maker of the `Jive' brand of packaged fruit juice. Jive fights with brands such as Tropicana from Pepsi and Real from Dabur for its survival.

Last year was a tough period for NAPCL, a venture promoted by the Kerala State Government and European Union, but this fiscal the company is hopeful of a turnaround, says Mr Sasikumar K., Managing Director. "Our target is to achieve cash break even this year at a turnover of Rs 7.5 crore to Rs 8 crore," Mr Sasikumar told Business Line. Last year, the company was in red, at revenues of about Rs 2.6 crore.

The year has begun on a positive note for Jive, which comes in two flavours - Splash, a mango-pineapple nectar, and Punch, a pineapple drink. In the first quarter, sales are up at 40,000 trays (27 packs in one tray) of Punch and 3,500 trays of Splash. Both are priced at Rs 12 a pack.

"We hope to reach a sales of 5.6 million packets this financial year, as compared to one million units last year," Mr Sasikumar said.

In the next one month, NAPCL will launch a mango flavour under the `Jive Mango Joozy' brand, priced at Rs 10. NAPCL also makes candies from ginger, papaya and pineapple.

The other stream of business is making pineapple and mango juice concentrates, which the company sells to other packaged drink makers in the national and international markets.

Though NAPCL is located near Vazhakkulam, the hub of pineapple farming in Kerala, and pineapple farmers hold 70 per cent of its shares, the company's prospects have been hit by issues related to procurement of pineapple.

NAPCL was conceived and set up in view of the abundant availability of pineapple in the area. "The factory now functions only on a seasonal basis and earlier the capacity utilisation was only 10 per cent," Mr Sasikumar said. NAPCL has an installed capacity of 6,000 packs per hour for the Jive and 60 tonnes per day for pineapple juice concentrate.

He said NAPCL was not getting enough pineapples since the company cannot afford to offer more than Rs 4 per kg for the fruit, when price in the open market hovers around Rs 7 to Rs 8 a kg.

"In the international market, the juice concentrate is available for about $1200 per tonne. To be competitive in this market, we have to source pineapple at Rs 4 a kg or we will incur cash losses," he pointed out. It takes one tonne of pineapple to make 100 kg for juice concentrate.

In order to tide over this problem, NAPCL is now planning to undertake pineapple farming on its own. The company has received in principle approval from the State Government, which has 30 per cent shares in the company. "In a phased manner, we plan to do pineapple farming in 500 acres," he said.

NAPCL is also planning to increase its presence in markets outside Kerala for the Jive brand. New flavours such as tomato, guava and papaya are also being planned. This would also ensure more capacity utilisation of the plant.

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