Hindustan Tin Works, a leading manufacturer, is looking at the non food sector to drive its revenue in times to come.

Mr Atit Bhatia senior vice president said that "The focus is now towards the non-food segment. We are looking at how we can capture the growing paints packaging sector."

HTW thinks non-food packaging will drive a lot of growth for the company. Food can packaging presently contributes to 90% of its total sales.

The company said that with more and more processed food coming into Indian markets, the food can packaging sector will continue to grow. He added that "Also, the company is shifting focus from being a very dominant food can maker. We are looking at tapping certain markets (non-food) where we are not present at this time. Like paints.”

Apart from paint, the company is looking at other markets such as pesticides, shoe polish and aerosols. He said that "These are the markets that we think will help HTW go forward.”

Currently, the company consumes about 25,000 tonnes of tinplate per year.

HTW was planning two new plants, one in the south and the other in the west. However, the South India plan remain shelved, as the geography generated only seasonal demand for cans and the company could not justify the financial costs to its board. The plan to set up a facility in West India to cater to the export market was a non-starter because of the European and North African crises.

In a joint venture with Rexam, the company is setting up an aluminium beverage can line. The HTW-Rexam JV is focused for only the beverage market, i.e. carbonated soft drinks and beer. The company is investing INR 220 crore for a new aluminium line. This will come up next year.

The total beverage can market in India is around 700 million cans per year. There is already excess capacity and the situation is going to get worse. Bhatia said the beverage can market was growing at 15 per cent per year.

(Sourced from BS)