ITC scaling up 'Food Safe Spices' and other value-added agri products to accelerate growth

New Delhi, June 28 (IANS) The scope and scale of operations of ITC’s Agri Business have grown manifold over the years and currently encompasses nearly 3 million tonnes of annual volume in 22 states and over 20 agri-value chains, according to the ITC Annual Report 2023-24.

The strategic focus of the business in recent years has been to accelerate growth by rapidly developing and scaling up Value-Added Agri Products (VAAP), straddling multiple value chains comprising spices, coffee, frozen marine products, and processed fruits, among others.

Amid the extremely challenging operating environment, ITC leveraged its strong farm linkages, extensive sourcing expertise enabling traceable, attribute-based and identity-preserved sourcing of agri-commodities, multi-modal logistics capability, agile supply chain operations, deep customer relationships, and focus on scale-up of the VAAP portfolio to sustain business operations during the year.

ITC is one of India’s largest exporters of agri commodities with exports to over 85 countries.

ITC is a leading player in spices such as chili, turmeric, coriander, and cumin. In line with its strategy of enhancing value addition and ‘producing the buy’, the business has, in recent years, scaled up its presence in ‘food safe’ markets viz. the US, EU, and Japan, leveraging its key strengths such as identity-preserved sourcing expertise, strong backward integration, custody of supply chain and customer-focused strategies.

During the year, the business consolidated its position as a preferred supplier in ‘food safe’ markets (private labels, steam sterilised, organic products) leveraging deep customer relationships, portfolio augmentation, and agile execution.

The business scaled up its Organic and Integrated Crop Management (ICM) programmes, thereby enhancing its ability to produce ‘food safe’ spices in a sustainable manner. The business continues to partner with various State Governments for production of ‘food safe’ spices and has maintained an unblemished track record over the years in terms of compliance with stringent food safety parameters.

The business continues to pursue sustainable farm management practices anchored on Rainforest Alliance and Global GAP accreditation.

Capacity utilisation of the state-of-the-art spices processing facility in Andhra Pradesh has been ramped up to enable ITC to expand its customer base in 'food safe' export markets, besides promoting inclusive spices value chains benefiting thousands of Indian farmers.

During the year, coffee prices witnessed a sharp increase in the international markets primarily due to lower crop output in Vietnam. The tightness in supply, in anticipation of further price increases, resulted in lower export volumes of Indian coffee. Notwithstanding these challenges, the business registered strong growth in exports, leveraging its strategic presence in key coffee-producing regions of India, deep understanding of estate and region-specific varieties, and focus on premium grades of Arabica, Certified Coffees, Specialty and, Monsooned Coffee.

ITC is one of the leading exporters of value-added frozen marine products from India with expertise in processing individually quick-frozen (IQF), raw and cooked products, adhering to the highest standards of safety and hygiene prevalent in developed markets such as the US, EU, and Japan.

During the year, ITC has emerged as one of the top three exporters of frozen shrimps from India to the EU market by expanding its footprint in sustainably sourced shrimps leveraging the Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC) programme.

The business also provides sourcing support to the ‘ITC Master Chef’ range of ‘Super Safe’ frozen prawns in the domestic market and supplies high-quality shrimps to ITC’s Hotels Business.

In the Processed Fruits & Vegetables segment, the business continues to expand its footprint in the fruit pulp and tomato paste categories through a robust network comprising a large number of small and marginal farmers in four states.

The business continues to focus on its strategy of moving up the value chain by scaling up its customised crop development and cultivation programme in Madhya Pradesh to further enhance its expertise in Medicinal and Aromatic Plant Extracts (MAPE).

Collaborations with farmers are being strengthened with the business providing necessary inputs, advisory, on-field support, and enabling farmers to ‘produce the buy’.