India: LT Foods and Kameda Seika establish joint venture for rice snacks

Indian rice specialist LT Foods and Japanese rice-based snack firm Kameda Seika have announced the launch of joint venture to sell rice based snacks in India, according to the Economic Times.

The new 51:49 joint venture is described as being backed by a $10 million investment and is designed help the companies enter a new category of snacks, as “consumers are looking for healthier snacking options and there are limited options in that space”, LT Foods managing director Ashwani Arora told the newspaper.

“Competing with brands such as Pepsi-Co’s Lays is difficult in snacks”, he added. “So we decided to create a new category through the association with Kameda. The JV will leverage LT Foods’ distribution and logistics network and Kameda has proprietary manufacturing capabilities of rice-based snacks”.

Meanwhile Kameda Seika’s aim was to tap into high-potential markets such as India and become a global foods player, the firm’s chairman Michiyasu Tanaka said.

The venture is set to roll out new snacks in India by April 2017, with launches across South Asia to follow once the business is established.

Source: Economic Times