Joint venture between Mahindra and Univeg

Univeg has signed a joint venture with the food unit of Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd, which is part of Mahindra Group.

The joint venture will be owned by Mahindra Shubhlabh Services Ltd (MSSL) and UNIVEG respectively 60 and 40%. The joint venture will focus on the development of the supply chain to provide high quality fruits and meet the needs of domestic and international markets. The volume of trade is expected  approximately 100 000 tons, with a first time bananas, apples, kiwi and pears.

Mr. Hein Deprez, CEO and principal shareholder of UNIVEG Group, said: "We consider this association as the right balance between market presence and relationship with farmers. The implementation of Mahindra and our proven technical expertise across 6 continents and 32 distribution centers in Europe will be beneficial to all stakeholders."

The new joint venture will benefit from the global expertise of two companies: UNIVEG will provide technical expertise and best practices in the areas of quality control, management of fresh produce after harvest, the ripening process and agronomic practices and procedures to meet international quality controls, which allow farmers to improve their productivity and price realization. MSSL will in its turn contribute to the conclusion of farming contract in India while taking advantage of its national network of marketing and distribution and providing required licensing and assistance services.

The joint venture will also focus on the modernization of the national fruit supply chain to meet the quality requirements of consumers, improve efficiency, reduce levels of waste, increase farmer productivity and improve returns on investment. It will focus on the development of procedures for maturation, packaging and storage, to offer to Indian and foreign consumers awareness of the freshest produce. This joint venture will import high quality fruit from around the world and position Indian fruits in global markets by building an efficient export supply chains for fruit selection.