FieldFresh Foods Pvt. Ltd, the joint venture between India’s Bharti Enterprises and Del Monte Foods India Pvt. Ltd, signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Italy’s Cermac Consortium to boost its supply lines in fresh and processed foods from Italy, and also enable it to access information on agricultural machinery and food processing technology. Del Monte Foods is owned by Philippines-based Del Monte Pacific Limited, which is engaged in the manufacturing distribution and sales of processed fruits and vegetables products.
Italy’s Emilia-Romagna region is home to manufacture of agricultural machinery, post-harvest technology and food processing machinery.
The MoU was inked at a workshop on ‘Italy-India Joint Business Projects in the Agro Sector’ organised by Federation of Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) and the apex Italian business Chamber, Confindustria.
The MoU was signed in the presence of Paolo De Castro, Italian minister of agriculture, and Subodh Kant Sahai, India’s minister of state for food processing industries.
FieldFresh Foods is engaged in agricultural activities in fresh fruits and vegetables, and manufacturing, distribution and sales of processed fruits and vegetable products in the domestic as well as international markets including Europe, the United States and the Middle East.
Speaking on the occasion, Castro said India was set to emerge as an important market for export of Italian agro food products as also for investments in logistics, joint ventures and industry-level partnerships. Agro food product exports from Italy could reach a figure of 100 million euros in a few years, he said.
Sahai informed that India has set a time-bound target of attaining 20-per-cent growth in the food processing sector in the next 18 months, from the current growth rate of about 14 per cent. Italy, he said, could cash in on the demand for processed foods from the 600 million-strong Indian consuming class and even export agro products to third countries from India.
