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Dutch firms Scelta, Holco and India's Agro-Dutch Foods may form mushroom JV

Two leading Dutch companies engaged in production and marketing of mushrooms worldwide, are now looking at Indian mushroom producers and exporters to establish joint venture production facilities for servicing the world market.

The two companies-- Scelta and Holco-- which became a single identity following their recent merger, are now engaged in discussions with the Chandigarh-based Agro-Dutch Foods Limited to have an equity partnership in near future.

Agro-Dutch foods promoted by Malvinder Singh, has an equity holding of 11 per cent of the Union food processing ministry, 22 per cent of Punjab Agro Industry Corporation and about 39 per cent of the private promoters, including Singh.

Singh said that negotiations were going on with the Union ministry and Punjab Agro to buyback their shares at attractive rates which could be offered to the Dutch firm as an equity partner.

Singh said that his company would raise the production capacity from the current 10,000 tonnes to 30,000 tonners per annum by the year 2002. There is no plan to come to the public for raising resources in the near future, we will finance the expansion programme through our internal resources, he added.

The involvement of Dutch firms would help Agro-Dutch Foods to increase production, and diversify from the industrial sizes to retail packaging of individually quick-frozen mushrooms, to cater to the world market.

Holco and Scelta, ranked third and fourth in world mushroom trade, together distribute annually nearly 100,000 tonnes of mushrooms through their production centres in Holland and joint ventures in Poland, China, Thailand and Peru.

UNI

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