Date:15/02/2006 URL: http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2006/02/15/stories/2006021501630300.htm

Back Hatsun Agro expands capacity to target export markets

Our Bureau

Mr R.G. Chandramogan (right), Chairman and Managing Director, Hatsun Agro Product Ltd, and Mr B. Nandakumar, Chief Marketing Officer, at a press conference in Chennai on Tuesday. — Bijoy Ghosh

Chennai , Feb.14

HATSUN Agro Product Ltd is expanding in the export market and also strengthening its capacity here to target new markets, said Mr R. G. Chandramogan, Chairman and Managing Director, Hatsun Agro.

He said that in the current year, its exports have grown to Rs 59 crore against Rs 3.41 crore in the nine-month period in 2004-05. Its products reach over 23 countries. Hatsun's products are used in yoghurt and ice creams in Thailand, canned milk in Singapore; refreshments in Saudi Arabia and elsewhere in West Asia; cheese in Egypt and Morocco; and bakery products in Canada, he said. (Milk ingredients are products derived from milk, including butter and anhydrous milk fats.)

The company has tied up with Dairy Projects International, New Zealand, for technology to improve milk yields and quality from dairy farms, which supply milk to Hatsun.

It is expanding its milk-handling capacities with a new plant at Kanchipuram, about 75 km west of Chennai (at a capacity of 3 lakh litres milk a day.) Hatsun, which has four such dairies, can now handle about 16 lakh litres a day against 12 lakh litres last year, he said. The company will invest over Rs 30 crore in strengthening its milk-handling infrastructure. Over Rs 15.58 crore has been spent and Rs 14.5 crore is in the pipeline. Last year, the company spent over Rs 43.75 crore in capital expenditure.

Hatsun's Kanchipuram dairy has received the Export Inspection Agency's quality certification — a first in South India, said Mr Chandramogan.

In the domestic market, Hatsun's milk brand Arokya sells about 8 lakh litres a day. It is among the market leaders in Tamil Nadu and Karnataka and is present in all the towns with a population of 30,000 and above. The company procures milk from 1.36 lakh farmers in 8,015 villages. In 2004-05, its turnover was Rs 453 crore. In the first nine months of the current year, Hatsun's turnover was Rs 415 crore, he said. On the BSE, the company's stock opened at Rs 171.10 and closed at Rs 173.10.