Perfetti Van to launch new product next month

Perfetti Van Melle India Private Ltd, a manufacturer and marketer of confectionery, expects to launch a new confectionery product in January 2005.

The company expects to close the current financial year ending December 31, 2004 with a turnover of Rs 450 crore, as compared to Rs 400 crore in the last fiscal.

Addressing the launch of new Happydent Protex sugar-free chewing gum, Stefano Pelle, managing director, Prefretti Van Melle, said that the company had invested about Rs 20 crore during the year on the expansion and setting up of new machinery in its units.

The company has two manufacturing plants "" one in Gurgaon and the other in Ranipet near Chennai. Prefetti Van Melle expects to spend Rs 2 crore on marketing its new brands in the next few months. It had launched about 12 new product including variants in 2004.

Pelle said that at present there was no market for sugar free chewing gum that prevents tooth decay in India but is expected to grow to 10 per cent of the sugar confectionery market in the next ten years. The sugar confectionery market is estimated to be around Rs 1,600 crore.