Search the Internet          Tips  Sites: Finance, Investment

Tata Coffee to launch, retail pepper brand

Reeba Zachariah

If the Tata group can peddle salt, why can't it hawk pepper? That's exactly what it will be doing. Tata Chemicals produces and sells salt, but Tata Coffee is leaping into retailing pepper.

India's largest producer and exporter of pepper is launching a pepper brand in the domestic market and has begun test marketing it at undisclosed towns and cities.

Will it be called Tata Pepper? Tata Coffee managing director M H Ashraff says no decision has been taken on this, but the brand will certainly include the Tata name.

Ashraff also disclosed that Tata Coffee had set itself the ambitious target of clocking up sales of Rs 1 billion from its timber business in the next two-three years.

He said, " The timber business currently contributes a negligible share to the total turnover of Tata Coffee but we see this business contributing around Rs 1 billion in next two to three years."

Tata Coffee's plywood is marketed under the brand name Conswood and the company claims it is the only eco-friendly plywood brand in the market.

About 73 per cent of Tata Coffee's income comes from coffee; the rest is derived from pepper, tea, cardamom and timber and other agricultural products.

The company's coffee business is divided into exports (both bulk and instant coffee) and the domestic market (branded roast and ground and instant coffee).

Powered by

YOU MAY ALSO WANT TO READ:
The Rediff-Business Standard Special
The Budget 2001-2002 Special
Money
Business News

Tell us what you think of this report