‘Jam' Of A Business

With more and more people showing their preference to go for products that are organic and low on sugar content, there are now new opportunities to start ventures dealing in fruit jams and jellies to cater to the new breed of consumers

- Jyotismita Sharma

When the Greeks first prepared jams many centuries ago, little did they know that this spread would one day become an inseparable part of daily breakfast for people around the world. The sweet taste and the blast of fruity flavours that the use of this spread in a slice of bread or a doughnut or in a sandwich brings to the mouth can delight the young and the old alike. Moreover, the search for convinience food, especially in urban areas, have also increased the usage of spreads like jams, jellies, marmalades and preserves manifold. The rise in disposable income among a large section of the population in india has also contributed to the increase in demand for jams and jellies and other spreads.

According to a recent report by global market research firm TechSci Research, the India spreads market – which is dominated by jams and sweet spreads — is forecast to reach $527 million by 2022.

The market is expected to witness robust growth on the account of changing consumer tastes, expanding middle class population and increasing demand for tasty food products, said the report titled “India Spreads Market By Type, By Point of Sale, By End User, Forecast and Opportunities, 2012 – 2022”.

Other noteworthy market drivers include increasing health consciousness, stressful and hectic lifestyles of working class population, lack of time to cook traditional meals at home coupled with increasing demand for packaged food, the findings showed.

The research showed that the northern and western reg ions of the country cumulatively account for a majority share in India’s spreads market on account of increasing awareness for healthy breakfast, rising consumer spending on ready-to-eat food items, and presence of comparatively higher number of tier-I and tier-II cities, which are the major demand generators for spreads in India.