Fonterra Future Dairy to launch products every quarter

Fonterra Future Dairy (FFD), an equal joint venture between New Zealand-based global dairy nutrition company Fonterra and Kishore Biyani promoted Future Consumer Ltd, plans to introduce new value-added dairy products over the next few quarters in the Indian market. The company launched three products vis toned milk, curd, chocolate and strawberry milkshakes under the Dreamery brand in Mumbai earlier this week.

Ishmeet Singh, chief executive officer, FFD, said, “the products will be made available through modern and general trade channels.” “We will start selling in the western region and enter the southern region next. This will be followed by introducing the Dreamery range in the northern region. Over the next few quarters we will bring in more new dairy products and eventually covering the entire space of value-added products in India,” said Singh.

Tapping the consumption opportunity in India, FFD is of the view that despite India being among the largest producers of milk, the per capita consumption is still among the lowest. “If I look at some of the value-added products such as cheese, it’ll probably be the lowest in the world. That itself tells that the opportunity is huge. The Indian consumer is still evolving and I think that is the biggest opportunity for us as we enter in the value-added products space in India,” said Singh.

Calling the Dreamery range of products as FFD’s Dairy 2.0 offering for the Indian market, the company management will be banking significantly on the complimentary strengths of its JV partner in the area of distribution, reach and consumer insights. “Dreamery and the initial range of products is just the beginning for us in terms of defining the space of healthy, nutrition and value-added products. As part of our go to market strategy, we will soon start our engagements with the consumers through above and below the line (ATL/ BTL) activities. In terms of availability, the products will be available across Future Group’s retail stores as well as other modern and general trade stores,” said Singh. 

Priced competitively vis-a-vis existing players such as Amul, Britannia, Mother Dairy, Nestle, Parag Milk Foods etc, the company will mainly focus on the value-added dairy segment and stay away from selling milk in pouches. The one litre UHT toned milk in a Tetra Pak is priced at Rs 75 and milkshakes cost Rs 30 for a 180 ml pack. While curd is priced at Rs 65 for a 400 gram a smaller 200 gm pack will also be introduced at a lower price point later.