Bunge India Pvt Ltd, the fully-owned subsidiary of Bunge Ltd, is seeking to expand the marketshare of its edible oils by positioning a blend of soyabean oil and palm oil in sachets at price points aimed at the poor.
Bunge, which bought the historic Dalda brand of hydrogenated vegetable oil in 2003 from Hindustan Lever Ltd, has introduced sachets of this edible oil mix at Rs 5 and Rs 10, containing 70ml and 145ml respectively.
Videh Jaipuriar, Bunge India’s vice-president for foods business, said the blend will be available for now only in the small sachets. The rest of its edible oils come in standard packs.
“The basic intention is to convert consumers who are buying loose? on an all-India basis, 70% of all the edible oil is sold loose, and this figure increases in the rural areas,” Jaipuriar said.
Bunge had done a market survey in the Hindi-speaking belt of Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh. “We found that there is a large proportion of consumers who are typically daily-wage earners or low-income households, who purchase their daily needs either on a daily basis or once in two days,” he said.
Bunge’s sachets are aimed at this lot, he said.
As for the Dalda branded edible oils launched by Bunge last year, the company claims an all-India market share of 3%.
“In edible oils, we have got currently a market share all-India of about 3%, and we expect that with this launch and of sunflower oil in the South and East, we will double the market share in 1-1/2 years,” he said.