Italians offer processing technologies
Italy wants to diversify its portfolio and investment opportunities—making India an important market for Italy, said Vincenzo de Luca, Italian Ambassador in New Delhi.
He pointed out that Food Processing is a key element in India and Italy’s bilateral relationships.
Italy can thus provide India with knowhow on how to better preserve food and reduce wastages through strengthening cold chain and processing technologies, he said at the first Digital Indo-Italian Business Mission on Food Processing held on 16 July 2020.
India, meanwhile, backed by progressive policies on investment and growing young economy provides immense opportunities for growth.
Foreign Direct Investment is growing by 44% in 2020 over 2019 in the Food Processing sector is considered one of India’s Champion sectors with “Ready to Eat” and “Frozen Food” segments are key drivers of demand expected to reach US$1.2 trillion over the next five years, highlighted Minister of Food Processing Industries Harsimrat Kaur Badal.
The recent reforms announced under the Aatma Nirbhar Bharat stimulus package haven been particularly significant in the agriculture and food sector unlocking several avenues for investment into Agri and food enterprises.
Amendments towards promoting barrier-free trade in agriculture produce, and scaling of electronic national markets, the introduction of a National Farm Gate infrastructure fund are creating the right structural shifts for demand creation and aggregation efficiencies that will open several avenues in the area of food processing.
The Indian Food Processing Sector is at the cusp of change, and the opportunity to innovate using technology is huge, stressed Chandrajit Banerjee, Director General, Confederation of Indian Industry.
While India’s strength lies in agriculture production, Italy’s strength lies in processing and the manufacturing of goods, according to Manlio Di Stefano, Italy’s Undersecretary of State for Foreign Affairs in charge of International Trade.
“Italy is a world leader in food processing and packaging machinery,” said Di Stefano.
With entrepreneurship and trade at its heart, the Digital Mission is exploring avenues for the two countries to partner in areas of cutting-edge technology, in the food sector. With the emerging global scenario, both countries can look at more ambitious trade and partnership opportunities and it is here that this trade mission gains significance.
“This Digital Indo-Italian Business Mission on Food Processing is the starting point of a new, exciting digital journey, paving the way for a closer connection between our two food processing ecosystems,” said Ambassador Lorenzo Angeloni, Director General for Economic Promotion, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Italy.
India offers Italy a huge market for processing technology given its production strengths but nascent levels of processing, speakers stressed.
The demand for technology is fast expanding and food processing is one segment that has a lot of focus given its significant potential in both employment generation and exports.
Also, speakers from the Italian Trade Agency (ITA), Confindustria, Invest India, KPMG and SACE shared their views at Opening session of the two-day Business Mission.
The Mission offers a unique platform for both countries to explore partnership opportunities. Over 23 Italian companies and three Associations (UCIMA (Italian Packaging Machinery Manufacturers Association) for packaging, ASSOFODTEC (Italian Association of food processing machinery manufacturers) and the ANIMA (Italian Association of mechanical and engineering industry) were at the Mission exhibiting products and services through a virtual exhibition.
Also, as part of the Digital Indo-Italian Business Mission, five webinars were held to explore and identify opportunities across segments such as Fruits & Vegetables, Cereals, Milk & Dairy Processing, Packaging & Bottling and also the opportunities for technical collaborations with the units located in the Mega Food Parks. #food #processing #industry #frozen #Italy #India #Badal #exports #technologies #expertise /fiinews.com
