The Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Lulu Hypermarket to promote export of millets to the Gulf Cooperation Countries (GCCs).

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APEDA will promote millet products and value-added products with the Lulu Group, which runs international retail hypermarket chain and shopping malls across Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, India and Far East.

The MoU was signed between Dr Tarun Bajaj, Director APEDA and Salim VI, the Chief Operating Officer of LuLu Group, in the presence of APEDA Chairman Dr M Angamuthu, Consul General of India Dr Aman Puri and MA Yusuff Ali, the Chairman and Managing Director of Luu Group.

As per the memorandum signed on February 21, Lulu Group will facilitate promotional activities for millet products and ensure display of Indian millets and its value added products in international retail chains by sourcing it from Farmer Producer Organisations, Farmer Producer Companies, women entrepreneurs and startups.

APEDA Chairman M Angamuthu said they were ready to provide all required help to exporters, millet producers, women FPOs, etc to promote Indian millets across the globe.

Stressing on coordinating with buyers, sellers, producers, to take forward the export of millets and value added products of millets, Angamuthu said, “It’s a good opportunity to boost our exports as India has very distinctive traditional varieties of millets which are loved by health-conscious people. The export of millets will help in increasing the income of farmers.”

APEDA will facilitate manufactures to send various samples of millet products to Lulu Hypermarkets. APEDA, in association with Lulu Group, will also provide assistance in labeling the products in accordance with the requirement of different importing countries.

APEDA is holding export promotion activities for millets in 16 International Trade Fairs, including Gulfood 2023, as part of the International Year of Millets (IYoM) 2023.

India has exported millets worth $46.05 million during April-November 2022-23 and the UAE was a major importing country of Indian millets. The APEDA-Lulu deal is expected to help India raise its export to $100 million by 2025.

APEDA also plans to organise millet promotional activities in South Africa, Japan, South Korea, Indonesia, Saudi Arabia, Sydney, Germany, United Kingdom and United States of America by facilitating participation of different stakeholders from India in some of the significant food shows, Buyer Seller Meets and Road Shows.

It will also showcase millets and related products at global platforms such as Foodex, Seoul Food & Hotel Show, Saudi Agro Food, Fine Food Show in Sydney (Australia), Belgium’s Food & Beverages Show, Germany’s BioFach and Anuga Food Fair, San Francisco’s Winter Fancy Food Show, etc.

It is estimated that the millets market is set to grow from its current market value of more than USD 9 billion to over USD 12 billion by 2025.

The government is also mobilizing start-ups for export promotion of value-added products in the Ready to Eat (RTE) and Ready to Serve (RTS) category such as noodles, pasta, breakfast cereals mix, biscuits, cookies, snacks, sweets, etc.

As per the DGCIS data, India registered a growth of 8.02% in the export of millets in the financial year 2021-22 as the export of millets was 159,332.16 metric tonne against 147,501.08 metric tonne during the same period last year.

Also read: FSSAI sets paraments for millets to ensure good quality supply in domestic and global markets

(Edited by : Pradeep John)