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CHENNAI, Feb. 25

HATSUN Agro Product Ltd, the maker of Arun ice-creams, plans to reposition Arun ice-creams as a super premium brand with more cream and smoother texture to scoop in a larger market share during the coming summer. The company has also decided to step up investments in the ice-cream business to further consolidate its position as a market leader in the South.

Addressing a press conference here on Tuesday, Mr R.G. Chandramogan, Managing Director, Hatsun Agro Product, said that the repositioning by Hatsun represented significant value addition. The super premium grade of Arun ice-cream will be available from March 1 in time to meet the peak season this summer. The company plans to invest over Rs 6 crore in a fully automated extruded candy line for ice-creams. Arun ice-cream will then be available in greater varieties, new `fun-shapes' with a richer taste and smoother texture, he said.

The company is looking to consolidate its position in the South, where it enjoys a 34 per cent market share. In Tamil Nadu, it has a 56 per cent market share and there is scope for improvement in Kerala, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh. At present, it has 1,100 exclusive ice-cream parlours, 60 per cent of them in Tamil Nadu, he said.

The super premium grade will cost the customer six per cent more as compared to the current range. This was a nominal increase compared to the international super premium grades costing an additional 60 per cent, according to Mr Chandramogan.

To the customer it is a significant value addition because it is more ice-cream scoop-for-scoop with 15 per cent cream content, 50 per cent more than the prescribed standards for ice-cream, and 42.5 per cent solids (36 per cent in other brands.) For instance, one litre of premix makes 2.1 litres of conventional ice-cream, a 110 per cent overrun in industry parlance. But the super premium grades' overrun is 85 per cent, he said.

Arun has been able to keep its cost down because of its strengths in the dairy business. It handles over 6.5 lakh litres of milk per day. The raw materials are available in-house and the company is using it to advantage to aggressively push its brand, he said.

In keeping with its repositioning, Arun ice-cream has revamped its logo and entire packaging to reflect the international quality of ice-creams. The entire range of 70 varieties will be available in the upgraded version. With a 50,000 litre per day ice-cream manufacturing capacity, Arun expects to be churning to its full capacity this summer. Its cold storages in Chennai, Vijayawada, Anantapur, Bangalore and Salem will ensure sufficient reach. Its distribution network is tighter knit with minimal intermediaries and Arun ice-creams move from manufacturer to consumer directly through the dealer.

Mr C. Sathyan, Executive Director (Operations), told Business Line on the sidelines of the press conference that the company is launching a new advertising campaign for the repositioned Arun brand in the press and TV next month. Sasi Advertising is in charge of the campaign which will run in Tamil, Telugu and Kannada, he said.

Hatsun eyes Rs 330-cr turnover

HATSUN Agro Product Ltd expects to achieve a turnover of Rs 330 crore during the current year with the ice cream business contributing 11.5 per cent. It will invest Rs 22 crore in the coming year, including Rs 10 crore in a greenfield dairy in Tirunelveli, Tamil Nadu. This will enable it to strengthen its presence in the South, and in South and Central Kerala, according to Mr R.G. Chandramogan, Managing Director, Hatsun Agro.

At present it handles 5.5 lakh litres per day of Arokya Standardised Milk and 1.5 lakh litres of Komatha Toned Milk. It has set for itself a target of 10 lakh litres during 2004.

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