Prime Highlights
- Oterra has expanded its business in Kochi, India, to cater increasing demand for natural color food coloring.
- The new center will allow Oterra to service customers in the Indian market, Asia Pacific, and Middle East with locally-sourced color solutions.
Key Facts
- The new Kochi facility has 120 employees with advanced manufacturing facilities and lab capabilities.
- Oterra’s growth reflects growing consumer interest in natural, clean-label ingredients that are applied in foods and beverages.
Key Background
Oterra, a global market leader in natural food colouring, is expanding its reach with the new blending and application plant in Kochi, India. The addition is to service growing demand for natural colour for food and beverage in India, the Asia Pacific, and Middle East. Oterra’s new plant is in Oterra’s Akay Natural Ingredients subsidiary, Ernakulam district, Kochi, as part of the company’s local manufacturing and service expansion commitment.
With advanced laboratory and manufacturing facilities, the plant will be capable of producing a variety of natural colorants such as yellow, orange, red, and pink shades from as varied as turmeric, paprika, annatto, and red beet. Having a local production unit locally in the country will help to speed up supply chain and lead times while enabling Oterra to serve customers’ orders locally more effectively.
Earlier, the operations of Oterra involved raw material export to its production facilities in Europe for processing and re-export of processed inputs to India. With the inauguration of its Kochi hub, the business has streamlined logistics significantly and broadened its horizon to supply natural colours directly into the local marketplace. This expansion is one of several in the food and beverage landscape, as businesses turn increasingly to natural and clean-label ingredients as consumers increasingly demand healthier, less-processed foods.
With the Natural Food Colors Association (NATCOL), tremendous growth potential lies for natural colors in Indian food. Indian food extensively utilizes natural ingredients, but the packaged food sector has utilized artificial coloring. Oterra’s investment in the Kochi plant puts the company at the vanguard of helping food manufacturers transition to natural color solutions, keeping pace with market trends and achieving visibility in an expanding emerging category.
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