From importing frozen French Fries to now exporting: how contract farming is a win-win for both agri
In 1992, the American processed food company, Lamb Weston, began importing frozen French Fries (FF) for supplying to star hotels in India. The Canadian multinational McCain Foods followed four years later, as sole supplier to McDonald’s that had opened its first restaurant in the country.
As consumption of the crispy straight-cut deep-fried potatoes grew, so did imports – crossing 5,000 tonnes annually by the mid-2000s and peaking at 7,863 tonnes in 2010-11 (April-March).
This turnaround – from an importer to an exporter of a highly western fast-food product – has been thanks to opportunity-seizing domestic entrepreneurs, who also harnessed the potential of processing potato varieties suitable for making FF and cultivating them in India.
Indian FF exports are mostly to Southeast Asia (Philippines, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia and Vietnam), Middle East (Saudi Arabia, UAE and Oman) and even Japan and Taiwan. “We have become an alternative supplier to these markets that previously imported only from Europe and the US,” noted Haresh Karamchandani, managing director and group CEO of HyFun Foods Pvt. Ltd.
The Ahmedabad-headquartered company accounted for about 85,000 out of the 175,000 tonnes of FF – plus another 8,000 out of 12,000 tonnes of potato hash browns – exported from India in the last calendar year. Other major exporters are Iscon Balaji Foods, Funwave Foods and ChillFill Foods (all from Gujarat) and the US-based J.R. Simplot (it also has a plant in the state).
India’s export of FF exceeds its estimated domestic consumption of 100,000 tonnes. Roughly 80% of that comprises sales to businesses (the likes of McDonald’s, KFC and Burger King, besides hotels, restaurants and caterers) at an average Rs 125/kg realisation and the rest to the retail segment at Rs 200/kg, adding to a total market size of Rs 1,400 crore.
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