Sobisco in expansion mode, plans diversification of its product portfolio

Kolkata: city-headquartered popular biscuits brand - Sobisco, from the stable of Sona Biscuits Ltd is on an expansion mode on more fronts than one.

With the cookies segment being estimated to be the fastest growing product type in the Indian biscuit market, Sobisco has started diversifying its product portfolio with new ranges of cookies and biscuits. The company plans to have a dedicated manufacturing unit to make cookies. The company is also looking at new geographies outside India to explore export possibilities. Besides, the company, which is one of the top five biscuit makers in the country in volume terms, is also putting up a new greenfield biscuit manufacturing unit in Assam to cater to the north-eastern markets more aggressively, said Mrinal Sen, National Head-Sales & Marketing, Sona Biscuits Ltd.

Morton, Pennsylvania, PA-based Sobisk Foods LLC, an arm of Sobisco, manufactures and sells cookies, cracker and cakes to leading retailers in the US. Its customer list includes many of the largest retailers, wholesalers, and CPG companies in the US. It has warehousing facilities both in the east coast and west coast to serve any retailer in the US, said Sen.

Interestingly, North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, and the Rest of the World make up the Worldwide Biscuits Market, which was valued at $106,232.78 million in 2020, and is projected to reach an estimated CAGR of 4.97 per cent during the period, 2021-2026. Because baked snacks and savory confectionery goods are popular in the region, North America and Europe dominate the market. However, due to changing food consumption preferences and rising per capita disposable income, Asia-Pacific is the fastest expanding area. Significantly, Latin America is discovered to be a new investment region for biscuit manufacturers. While the US will remain a special focus market for the Kolkata-based biscuit maker, it seems well set to tap other growing markets as well.

Significantly, India is the third largest producers of biscuits following the US and China. According to recently published report "India Biscuit Market Overview, 2017-2023", the organized biscuit market accounts for more than 70 per cent of value share in the overall Indian biscuit market. The sector is expected to surpass the revenue figure of Rs 400 billion by 2023. Going by some other studies, India's biscuit market stood at Rs 28,387 crores in 2016, and is projected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 11.27 per cent, in value terms, between 2017 and 2022, to reach Rs 52,771 crore by 2022.

Sen pointed out that quite significantly, the organised biscuit market had grown at double the rate of growth in April-May against pre-Covid levels as people stockpiled on essential goods during the lockdown. It is believed that the organised market surged to levels of about 12-15 per cent in April-May from 7-8 per cent seen before the lockdown in terms of growth rate.