News on Chips and Snacks from Asia

Fries, chips and flakes manufacturers in India are concerned over firm prices of potato, which has seen a jump owing to poor crop this year. Companies assure that an increase in retail price was unlikely to take place in the short run.

ITC Ltd's operating profit from its fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) business excluding cigarettes jumped three-and-a-half times to Rs 43 crore during the January-March quarter from Rs 11.87 crore in the corresponding period a year ago

The Philippine-based Universal Robina Corporation has teamed up with Japan’s largest snack food company Calbee Inc. to establish a local manufacturing joint venture

Balaji Wafers Pvt. Ltd is in advanced talks with Capital International Private Equity Funds (CIPEF) to sell nearly 15% in the snacks maker according to two people familiar with the development, who did not want to be named.

Emsland Group has announced that Henk Jaap Meijer will be participating as speaker at CMT's 3rd Starch World 2014 on 17-19 Feb, 2014 to be held at Mandarin Oriental Jakarta, Indonesia.

The continued accumulation of heavy frost on plants for the past few days is feared to have damaged 75% of the tomato crop in the district of Karnal, while potato growers may have suffered losses over 20%.

Kellogg Company has announced that it will build a new Pringles snacks manufacturing facility in Malaysia, as part of its recently announced Project K four-year efficiency and effectiveness program

As part of the zero-waste commitment for its manufacturing operation, PepsiCo's agriculture team in Turkey invested in anaerobic digestion technology several years ago to handle the organic waste created there.

PepsiCo Inc, the maker of Pepsi-Cola, Frito-Lay snacks and Tropicana juice, plans to invest $5.5 billion in India by 2020 to expand its presence in the country, it said on Monday.

Food &beverages giant PepsiCo India is believed to have backed out of the race to buy a stake in Rajkot-based Balaji Wafers.

Snacks maker Frito Lay has been fined almost 18 million Turkish Liras (8.8 million USD) by Turkey’s competition board over single-product loyalty discount allegations.

The Central Potato Research Institute (CPRI) in Shimla, India's premier potato research institute, has evolved a new technology to prevent conversion of starch into glucose in low temperature conditions, like cold storages.

PepsiCo Inc., the world’s largest snack-food maker, is among suitors exploring a bid for India’s Balaji Wafers Pvt as it pushes to sell more chips in developing countries, said two people familiar with the matter.

Indian snack maker Balaji Wafers is in separate talks with private-equity funds, including Blackstone Group and Actis, to raise between $100 million and $125 million.

PepsiCo and Mondelez, along with their Indian counterparts ITC and Britannia, have been approached for a stake of Balaji Wafers - a 37-year-old india based wafer (potato chip), namkeen and savoury brand that dominates a number of states in western India.

One of India's states, Himachal Pradesh will impose a ban on using polythene for packaging non-essential eatables, especially potato chips and candies, from July 1, officials said on Sunday.

For 56-year old Subrata Ghosh from village Garbeta in Bengal’s Medinipur district, it was a dream come true on Saturday.

In order to prepare various types of potato chips at lower costs, a potato processing plant and retail center has been opened at the Central Potato Research Station (CPRS) in Kufri, high in the mountains in Northern India.