Rice producers focus on branding, marketing

Increased competition from foreign brands has prompted Nepali ricemanufacturers to focus on aggressive branding and effective marketing. The manufacturers said that they would be coming up with attractive packaging and branding to compete with Indian products in the market.

With an increased number of players, processing mills have also started selling packaged ricebesides expanding their product range and marketing activities.

According to traders, there are more than a dozenrice packers in the market.

Although Nepali companies offer almost all kinds of rice ranging from Basmati and Jeera Masino to Mansuli, traders said that Indian brands had secured a larger market share due to their cheaper price tags.

Prime Edible has launched a promotional scheme under which customers purchasing its Pari rice will get gold through a lucky draw. It recently distributed one tola of gold each to 10 customers.

“Although we supply quality rice , consumers prefer Indian rice ,” said Nishesh Kumar, managing director of the company. “But we are making efforts to make our presence felt in the market by launching various promotional campaigns besides offering our products in attractive packs.”

The company supplies Jeera Masino, Sona Mansuli rice and brown rice in the market. Jeera Masino is available at Rs1, 500 for 25 kg, while Sona Mansuli costs Rs50 per kg. “We started selling brown rice with packaging and we are keeping the p rice very competitive,” added Kumar. Pari brown rice costs Rs110 for a 1 kg pack.

Sudhir Kumar Roonja, managing director of Om Agro Products, which produces Pearl rice in the domestic market, said Nepali brands had to struggle to compete with imported brands despite their higher quality.

According to him, Indian brands hold around 70 percent of the market share. The Birgunj-based Om Agro has been producing three varieties of rice . Its Jeera Masino is p rice d at Rs1,500 for a 25 kg pack while Sona Mansuli costs Rs1,400 for a 30 kg pack. Sonam premiumrice costs Rs75 per kg.

Similarly, Hulas Foods produces 16 varieties of rice to cater to the middle and upper classes. Deepak Rayamajhi, sales manager of the company, said, “We are spending a lot of money on packaging and branding, and we are also planning to add brown rice to our line-up soon.” Hulas Basmati, Hulas Amrit Bhog, Sonam and Premium Mansuli are some of the brands that the company sells.

Source: e-Kantipur