Mondelez India evaluating entry level biscuits market

The company expects to continue the growth in premium biscuit market

Mondelez India Foods, part of Mondelez Internarional, is evaluating the entry level biscuits market in the country while it expects to continue growing in the premium biscuits market, said an official from the company.

The biscuit market in India, according to global research firm Nielsen, is around Rs 25,000 crore per annum, of which the premium market is around 10-12 per cent. The company is currently present in premium biscuit segment with Cadbury Oreo and recently launched Cadbury Bournvita Biscuits.

Speaking to the reporters while launching the light colored cream biscuit under the brand Golden Oreo, Chella Pandyan, associate director, marketing, Biscuits India and Kids Fuel AP, Mondelez India Foods Pvt Ltd said that the market share of Oreo alone is around 10 per cent of the premium biscuit market.

When asked whether the company would look at launching products in the mass category, he said: "We are continuously evaluating that. We will be in a space where we will have higher ability to win. We are happy with the pace at which we grow now".

Elaborating the premium concept in the biscuit segment, he said that if the average price point of a biscuit is Rs 100 a kilogram, premium would be in the range of around Rs 200 a kg, while anything below Rs 150 a kg would be the mass segment.

While the premium segment, which has players like Mondelez, Nutrichoice and Dark Fantasy, has been growing at around 20 per cent during 2010-13, the growth rate has come down on par with the overall biscuit industry, of around 7-8 per cent. The mainstream players has been aggressive and pursued innovation, which has increased the products in the mass category, which is one of the reason for the slow down in growth in the premium segment, he said.

Mondelez India is a Rs 5,000-crore company and the biscuit business is touching double digits of the business, said Pandyan.

The company is currently manufacturing the biscuits in a facility in Ludhiana in Punjab and Bengaluru, in Karnataka. The capacity utilisation is upwards of 60 per cent and it produces and sells around 20,000 tonnes of biscuits, he added.

It has launched Oreo brand in 2011 and has price points of Rs 10 and Rs 35. The Golden Oreo expands its existing portfolio and marks its foray into the light coloured cream biscuit market. Oreo is one of the most advertised brand in the segment and the company is expecting to have an aggressive brand building plan including TV commercials and sampling plan for the next three months for the Golden Oreo. However, he refused to divulge the investment into the brand building campaign.