Tata Coffee to take Eight O'Clock brands to Russia
Afp, Bangalore
Tata Coffee, India's largest producer of the commodity, said Friday it will sell instant coffee under the Eight O'Clock brand name in its overseas markets after buying the US company for 220 million dollars last year. Tata is also setting up a coffee processing plant in Uganda that will export to China under the brand name Crane, owned by the government in Kampala, said Managing Director Hamid Ashraff. The plan to export Eight O'Clock to Russia, the Ukraine and other former Soviet states is part of a drive by Tata Coffee to move into branded operations from being a commodity-based company, Ashraff said. It is starting production of so-called freeze-dried instant coffee, a high-end variety, at a new 2,500-tonne plant by March that will be sold overseas under the Eight O'Clock brand, Ashraff told reporters. Freeze-dried coffee results from brewed coffee that has been frozen before the water is evaporated. It is more expensive and flavorful than regular instant coffee that is "spray-dried." "The consumption of spray-dried coffee is on the decline in Russia and other export markets while the consumption of freeze-dried coffee is growing by leaps and bounds," said Ashraff. "It sells for three times the price" of the low-end variety.
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