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| Sunday, 25 August 2002 |
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| News Business Features Editorial
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Munchee sets its sights on China by INDUNIL THENUWARA Ceylon Biscuits Ltd. (CBL), which manufactures and markets Munchee biscuits, is poised to enter the Chinese market. "We have already broken into the market in Hong Kong to where the first consignment was shipped recently. Mainland China is the next target. We have already listed some of our products such as the new Lemon Puff and Hawaiian Cookies in several Chinese supermarkets, which is the first step in this drive. We are talking about a huge population here. There is a lot of potential in this market," Managing Director CBL Lakshman de Silva said. Munchee biscuits and Ritzbury chocolates, manufactured by the CBL subsidiary Ritzbury Lanka (Pvt) Ltd., are sold in 25 countries including the UK, USA, Canada, Australia, United Arab Emirates, Oman, Qatar, Singapore, France, Mauritius, India and Maldives. Three containers of chocolates were recently shipped to Trinidad. Export Manager J.F. Rubera said the company's products are sold at leading foreign departmental stores under their private labels. "David Jones, a supplier of gourmet foods in Australia, distributes our products in over 350 outlets throughout the country. The product also reaches the shelves of top US supermarkets such as WalMart and KMart through the US supplier Design Pack. "The US Food and Drug Administration applies very stringent regulations when it comes to food imports. Our ability to break into such a competitive and quality conscious market speaks volumes about the quality of our product. Fifteen per cent of our production is exported," he said. The company's factory in Chennai, India concentrates on the South Indian market at present. "We are not competing with large Indian companies in this market as these are very well established, but some people have accepted our product as superior to Indian brands. Even if we can gain five per cent of this market, that would be a very big gain. We have made a start and will slowly and steadily progress from that point," de Silva said. Rubera cited the Indo - Lanka Free Trade Agreement as a barrier to develop their business in India. "This has resulted in a non-level playing field. Although the agreement was supposed to reduce duties, we incur so many taxes such as the Special Additional Duty, Maximum Retail Price surcharge and sales tax surcharge. All these have made the FTA meaningless," he said. The company, which had always been placed second after its biggest local competitor, has, for the first time, reported a bigger local market share of 44.4 per cent after the launch of Super Cream Cracker and the new Lemon Puff. Its competitor's market share was said to be 44.2 per cent. Together they account for about 89 per cent of the local market. Only a four per cent share is held by importers. The CBL share in the lemon puff market has climbed from 30 per cent to 52 per cent after the 'new look' product was launched. "We are focusing on new products and will continue to introduce novel quality products which suit the taste of the market. Tifin was a totally unique thing in Sri Lanka and was a big hit in the market. This product had contributed to the growth in market share in no uncertain terms. A lot of research and development has gone into all our products and we will continue to take note of market requirements when introducing new items," de Silva said. The company invested Rs. 350 million on the production line that was installed for the new cream cracker. This 80-metre line can also make Tifin and is capable of producing 2,500 metric tonnes of biscuits per month. Six such lines are operating at present for different varieties of biscuits while there are plans to install another line. Ceylon Biscuits and its subsidiary CBL Impex (Pvt) Ltd. won two awards at the 10th NCE Export Awards held recently. CBL won a silver award in the Extra Large Industry category while CBL Impex won a gold for Value Added Tea. CBL Impex, which started as a small exporter of tea pot bags in 1998 with one customer in Scandinavia, is now one of the largest exporters of tea pot bags, specially for catering industries. Its customer network now covers Scandinavia, USA, UK, Canada, Western Europe, Middle East, Australia, Hong Kong and Male. It is now a 100 per cent value added tea exporter. Director CBL Impex Senarath Udugama said: "Since 2000, we have been providing seasonal gift packs for large supermarkets in USA. The pack contains tea from CBL Impex, cookies made by the main company and ornamental materials and food items. We are trying to get at least some of these items produced locally as this will benefit local producers." Soy Foods (Lanka) Ltd., another subsidiary, produces 'soya meat' under three main varieties - Chickosoy, Malusoy and the latest, Vegesoy. The business, which was earlier facing difficulties, has now turned around and is making profits. The CBL group including subsidiaries employs over 1,600 people while about 1,350 are employed by Ceylon Biscuits. The Indian factory employs about 100. |
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