Adani Wilmar to hike refining capacity; draw brand revamp strategy

23 March 2009

Edible oil manufacturer Adani Wilmar (AWL), a Rs6,000-crore joint venture between the Adani Group and the Singapore-based Wilmar International, which makes and sells the Fortune brand of edible oil in India, is looking at acquiring greenfield and brownfield assets from companies in central and south India and plans to invest around Rs600 crore in these projects over the next year.

The company is also expanding refining capacity and is also all set to revamp its existing brands and launch a new range of products.

The company, which has three port-based facilities and seven crushing units with attached refineries across the country, plans to double the capacity of its port-based edible-oil refinery at Haldia in West Bengal to 1,600 tonnes a day (tpd) by December 2009.

This is part of the company's overall corporate plan to have an oilseed crushing capacity of 10,000 tpd, a refining capacity of 7,000 tpd, and a total edible oil volume of 2.5 million tonnes (mt) by 2012, nearly double current capacity. Total outlay on the project is estimated at Rs 100 crore, including the land acquisition cost.

Pranav Adani, managing director of Adani Wilmar said, currently the company has production facilities across the country with a crushing capacity of over 6,000 tonnes per day tpd and refining capacity of over 5,000 tpd.

Atul Chaturvedi, CEO, Adani Wilmar said, the company is scouting for assets in central and southern India for sunflower, soya and mustard oil projects and will invest upto Rs600 crore in these. After buying out three oilseed crushing plants in Madhya Pradesh, the company is close to acquiring a port-based refinery in Mangalore to enter Karnataka's lucrative palm oil market. It is also scouting for assets in Maharashtra.