Keventer Agro ventures into UHT milk biz, invests Rs 150cr

City-based Keventer Agro Tuesday forayed into the UHT milk business in the eastern region which has an estimated market size of Rs 1,000 crore.

Company officials said it has invested Rs 150 crore in a first-ever Ultra High Temperature (UHT) milk facility in West Bengal that would help double its revenues from dairy business over the next two years.

The dairy business, including ice-cream, contributes about Rs 400 crore now but the company is planning to double it to Rs 800 crore over the next two years.

Keventer Agro sells fresh milk and ice-cream under the 'Metro' brand.

As of now, UHT milk in Tetra Pak is is sold by Amul in the eastern region.

"We are aiming at Rs 250 crore revenue and 25 per cent market share in the UHT milk segment with Keventer brand UHT milk by 2020. The initial trials has been a tremendous success," Keventer Agro Managing Director Mayank Jalan said.

The company launched the UHT milk in three sizes -- 1 litre, 500ml and 200ml.

"Currently, we are sourcing milk from from 20,000 dairy farmers and producing around 40,000-50,000 litres of UHT milk a day. We expect to reach full capacity of two lakh litres a day by end-2019 or early 2020," Jalan said.

Going forward, the company would be engaging with nearly 50,000 dairy farmers for its milk business.

Tetra Pak South Asia MD Ashutosh Manohar said UHT treatment is an aseptic processing that sterilizes milk by heating it a certain temperature and cooling it almost instantly which helps removing harmful bacteria while retaining the nutrition intact.

In terms of volume, UHT milk market in India is pegged at around 15 lakh litres per day and nearly 30 per cent of this is consumed in the eastern states.

The market has been growing at over 20 per cent on a year-on-year basis over the last five years, he said.