Punjab firm inks deal with Mother Dairy to supply kinnow juice

After being troubled by marketing problems, kinnow (citrus) growers are now relieved that Punjab Agro Juices Limited, a Punjab-government undertaking, will supply kinnow juice to Mother Dairy.

The government undertaking has inked a deal with Mother Dairy to process about 500 tonnes of kinnow juice. Also, the state government is in talks with ITC and other smaller players to supply the juice.

In addition to this, to facilitate kinnow growers, the state government is working on modalities to launch its own kinnow juice under the brand Punjuice, in the current season. The deal comes as a relief for kinnow growers. Mother Dairy had approached Punjab Agro Juices Limited for kinnow juice.

"Under the agreement, we will supply 500 tonnes of kinnow juice. Since the recovery rate in kinnow is 42-43 per cent, about 1,300 tonnes of kinnow would be processed. The quantity seems minimal after considering the area and production of kinnow in Punjab but once the product is launched successfully in the market, many more players will approach us for the juice, as we are strategically located in kinnow area of the state," said Bhusan Goyal, chief executive officer, Punjab Agro Juices Limited (PAJL).

The total kinnow area in the state is around 44,000 hectares and the anticipated production is about over 990,000 tonnes.

Highlighting other initiative, he said, "There is a huge demand of kinnow juice in the market. So, we are in talks with ITC for the juice, for which the trail run would be conducted shortly. In addition, talks are also going on with other small players for processing the fruit. We are also planning to introduce our own kinnow juice, Punjuice, in the market during the current season. We will outsource the bottling job and plan to launch the product in pet bottles of 500 ml and one litre. We are working on the modalities and announcement will soon be made in this regard."