Coca-Cola targets to make Maaza a $1-bn brand by 2023

To procure 2 lakh MT of mango pulp worth Rs 1,100 cr annually once it reaches target

Beverages major The Coca-Cola Company is targeting to make its flagship juice brand Maaza a $1 billion brand in sales by 2023, doubling its procurement to two lakh metric tonne of mango pulp worth around Rs 1,100 crore annually. The resource infusion behind the brand is a part of the $5 billion investment plan of the company and its bottlers in India, between 2012 and 2020, said the company.

"We are now embarking on this mission of turning Maaza into the world's first $1 billion juice drink brand (by sales), coming out of India. We are very excited about what this can do for the agri sector and the food processing industry," said Venkatesh Kini, President, Coca-Cola India and South West Asia in an event celebrating the 40 years of brand Maaza. At present, the market size of Maaza is over 50% in the total mango fruit drink market, he said.

The company and its bottlers plan to invest aggressively in enhancing brand love, launching new, affordable and value for money juice packs, expanding distribution and augmenting manufacturing capacity to double the sales of Maaza by 2023, he said.

The bottlers of the company are setting up 5 Greenfield projects over the next 2 years, in addition to 57 bottling plants that already exist. Atleast 50% of this will have manufacturing lines for Maaza. These new lines will help keep pace with the expected increase in demand of Maaza over the next few years.

The company annually procures 1 lakh metric tonnes of mango pulp worth around Rs 650 crore in India. In 2023, if Maaza becomes the first $1 billion juice drink brand from India, the Coca-Cola system in India will procure 2 lakh metric tonnes of mango pulp annually, worth nearly Rs 1100 crore, thereby helping 100,000 farmers, added the company.

The company and its partner Jain Irrigation are working on Project Unnati, launched five years ago aiming at large scale adoption of Ultra High Density Plantation (UHDP). It also aims to scale up the project to cover end-to-end fruit supply chain and further optimise delivery.

"The project to be scaled up over a period of 10 years, is aimed at creating an ecosystem that delivers higher growth and income for farmers and 'Grove to Glass' fruit supply chain and optimizing delivery. Project Unnati alone is expected to deliver close to 240 MT of fruit by year 2023-24," said Anil Jain, vice chairman and managing director, Jain Irrigation.

India is the world's largest producer of mangoes, but the average yield per hectare of mangoes in India is one of the lowest in the world, lesser than that of countries like Bangladesh and Pakistan. The mango productivity in India is estimated at 8 MT per hectare while that of Brazil is 16 MT per hectare.

Ultra High Density Plantation is a proven technology, commonly practiced for mango cultivation worldwide and combined with other sustainable agricultural techniques, has the potential to yield upwards of 200% more produce than that by the traditional method, added the company.