Field Fresh Food, a joint venture food and beverage company of Sunil Mittal-led Bharti Enterprises and US-based Del Monte Pacific, will make a foray into Bangladesh.
The company is evaluating options for entering into Bangladesh with equal partnership between the two companies.
“Over the next two quarters, we would have potential local partners in Bangladesh,” said Yogesh Bellani, chief operating officer, Field Fresh Foods, reports an Indian newspaper.
At present, Field Fresh Foods sells Del Monte branded products in India and Nepal directly to consumers and in eight markets across the Asia Pacific through the business-to-business channel.
“We are expanding our product range. We will enter the snacks category with our dried fruit offerings,” said Bellani.
Del Monte, which entered India in 2007, offered in India includes fruit drinks, packaged fruits, ketchups and sauces and the Italian range of gourmet pasta, pasta sauces and olive oil.
“Initially, we would launch seven products in the Chinese category for direct consumer sales,” said Bellani. These include sauces like red chilli, green chilli vinegar, schezwan, etc. It will also launch products like swandwitch spreads and cheesy snack dips soon.
In the Indian snack market, Del Monte takes on the likes of PepsiCo, ITC, Haldirams, Britannia and Parle.
Del Monte’s health snack products would include packaged fruits (apricot, mango and papaya), dried fruits and dried fruit prunes. Field Fresh Foods has a production facility at Hosur (near Bangalore) and has third-party arrangements with local producers in the northern part of India. More than 30% of its products are sourced from the third-party partners.
Field Fresh sells fresh and canned fruit, penne pasta, snack dressing, mango pulp, tomato paste, jalapeno, fruit cocktail and whole corn kernels to more than 2,000 hotels, restaurants and bakeries in India.
