For Cibus 2012, India is the market to focus on

From May 7th to 10th, the 2012 Cibus International Food Exhibition will be held at the Parma Exhibition Center.www.cibus.it), which is shaping up to be a landmark event in the Italian agri-food sector of excellence. This year, the focus will be on four particular countries, including India, and Octagona will be present with its own stand and will manage the “India” desk, offering participating companies initial assistance and necessary support in identifying concrete opportunities for commercial development in that market.

For several years now, the Indian market has been one of the most promising for international expansion: with over 1 billion people and an economy growing at an annual rate of 8–9%, the subcontinent is, in fact, among the regions experiencing the highest growth globally.

From a strictly dietary perspective, India boasts a significant culinary tradition, with various types of cuisine particularly characterized by their state of origin. Although the average Indian can today still be defined as a consumer tied to traditions and tends to be “conservative” in terms of tastes and flavors (a phenomenon mainly due to a lack of information), the evolution of lifestyles among the affluent and middle classes, a greater inclination towards Western tastes and standards, and the increasing foreign presence in India (due to both tourism and business reasons) have created greater attention towards foreign products. In particular, curiosity towards “new” flavors has increased, just as day by day the attention to the quality and characteristics of the products consumed is growing. A further element corroborates this thesis: the ostentation of one's status by the upper-middle classes increasingly constitutes one of the drivers for a constant inclination towards tasting products not strictly belonging to the traditional Indian consumption.

But it is not just new trends among local consumers that make India a potentially explosive market. With an annual growth rate for the sector hovering around 4.11% and food production second only to China globally, the environment appears truly ripe for business ventures, especially considering the giant strides made so far: while the market value stood at around 120 million euros in 2005, it will exceed 270 billion euros by 2025. The figures below attest to the unstoppable growth of the food sector, given that India:

• It is the world's second-largest producer of fruit and the third-largest producer of vegetables (accounting for 8.41% of global production), with a 3.91% increase in fruit production
• It has the highest number of livestock in the world among cattle, sheep, and poultry
• Has a meat production of 9.6 million
• Has milk production equivalent to 91 million tons (+4% annually)
• Has an estimated fish production of around 6.4 million tons
• Has an annual production of consumer food goods of 4 million tons
• Has bread production (reserved for small and medium enterprises) reaching 2.7 million tons

Related sectors, such as food processing, are also experiencing steady growth: with a turnover of 55 billion euros and an annual growth rate ranging between 9 and 12 percent, this industry ranks fifth in India in terms of production, consumption, exports, and expected growth. The factor that should encourage foreign players to invest in India is, in particular, the low level of processing in the country due to the lack of adequate storage, transportation, and refrigeration infrastructure. Here too, the figures are more indicative than ever, considering that only 2.2% of fruits and vegetables, 35% of milk, 21% of meat, 6% of poultry products, and 8% of other products undergo food processing.

This changing landscape—in terms of both consumption and market size—is driving the decisions of industry players, particularly within the HoReCa sector and the large-scale retail sector, a rising star in India’s distribution industry. The modern concept of retail has led to the development of shopping centers and malls with a variety of retail outlets offering entertainment, shopping, and dining, all under one roof: today, retail accounts for 10% of the country’s total GDP, and business opportunities for food products are emerging not only in large-scale retail but also in specialty stores.

The different options provided by the HoReCa channel particularly concern hotel chains, stand-alone restaurants, restaurants within hotels, lounge bars, and emerging food chains.

In summary, there are certainly no lack of opportunities for Italian companies operating in the food sector with regard to this market.

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