Economic development and urbanisation in India are driving big increases in demand for packaged food and milk is no exception.
India is both the biggest producer and consumer of milk worldwide and although around two-thirds of milk consumed is unpackaged, the packaged proportion is expanding fast.
Milk carton growth
By building a new packaging material facility in Chakan, India near Pune, Tetra Pak intends to take full advantage of this trend.
According to its June 2009 Dairy Index report, consumption of milk sold in cartons has grown at a rate of 24.6 per cent in recent years. Tetra Pak is therefore keen to increase its annual production capacity in India and allow for anticipated future growth.
The market for carton packaged dairy and fruit-based drinks is expected to grow from 757 million litres in 2010 to 1.3 billion litres by 2013 in India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.
Plant capacity
Tetra Pak already has a manufacturing site in Pune but it has been in operation for nearly 14 years and is reaching its full capacity of 5 billion packages.
The new Pune plant will have an initial annual production capacity of 8.5 billion packages, with the potential of increasing to 16 billion packages.
As well as serving the local Indian milk market, Tetra Pak said the factory will serve the fruit-based drinks market and manufacture for foreign markets in South and Southeast Asia and the Middle East.
Among the carton packaging materials to be produced at the site are the Tetra Brik Aseptic, Tetra Fino Aseptic, and Tetra Classic Aseptic.
In addition to producing these materials, the new Indian plant will have a Machine Rebuilding Centre offering technical services such as start-up support and machine renovation to customers.
There will also be a Product Development and Innovation Center (PDIC), which will have a laboratory, a pilot processing plant and a pilot packaging plant. It is being built to help customers with their product formulations and development.