Fonterra moves Anlene into Indian market

A calcium-rich drink believed to slow bone deterioration has been launched in India by a Fonterra joint venture.

Britannia New Zealand Foods has introduced Anlene, a high-calcium, non-fat milk powder targeted to health-conscious older people concerned about osteoporosis.

The move is important because India is a huge market which is heavily oriented to a dairy diet, unlike much of Asia. It also has rapid expansion of middle class consumer markets willing to buy imported foods.

The joint venture's head of dairy business, Anupam Dutta, told a press conference that the marketing would be aimed at women aged 35 and older, Calcutta's Business Standard reports.

But the fortified milkpowder will not be marketed under the Milkman brand of Fonterra's joint venture partner, Britannia Industries, controlled by India's Wadia family.

Fonterra Brands managing director Sanjay Khosla recently announced the company had pruned its brands from 133 to fewer than 100, and was concentrating resources on 16 or 17 "power brands" which were the most profitable.

One of these is Anlene, which earns Fonterra several hundred million dollars a year in China, Taiwan, Malaysia, and the Philippines.

Fonterra created the Indian joint venture in 2001, but by December 2003, the Britannia Milkman brand was losing ground in significant markets, according to local newspaper reports.

The Business Standard said that the Anlene product will be endorsed by India's Arthritis Foundation.

It also said the joint venture was expanding its operations to northeastern parts of India, and would be launching four new cheese products within six weeks.

When its Milkman brand was launched in northern India in 2001, margins for its liquid milk business around New Delhi came under pressure from domestic rivals Mother Dairy, Paras and Amul.

- NZPA