Pan Gulf Foods and Industries FZ Co

CORPORATE

Pan Gulf Foods & Industries FZ Co set up as a joint venture company to make Dubai a regional basmati rice hub

Innovo Specialty Foods JLT formed to exclusively market and distribute basmati rice processed and packaged by the JV and Lakshmi Energy and Foods Ltd (LEAF India)

The shared vision of making Dubai a regional basmati rice hub has inspired H.H. Prince Mishaal bin Abdullah bin Turki bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud, V. Raman Kumar and Balbir Singh Uppal to create a conglomerate for storing, processing, packaging and distributing basmati rice in the Middle East region.

Pan Gulf Foods and Industries FZ Co is a joint venture company between H.H. Prince Mishaal and V. Raman Kumar and Balbir Singh Uppal’s Lakshmi Energy and Foods Ltd (LEAF India), focusing on storing up to 100,000 tonnes of basmati rice in its first year of operations in the company’s Jebel Ali warehouse. The Company aims to set up a processing, polishing and packaging facility with a capacity of over 100,000 tonnes of basmati rice with an investment of over AED 100 million, in the next one year. This company will focus on storage, processing and packaging of its export products to the entire MENA region.

The companies were launched in Dubai on February 25, 2014 with the unveiling of the logos and the launch of their branded basmati rice products.

Innovo Specialty Foods JLT is the other company set-up, in joint ownership, by H.H. Prince Mishaal, V. Raman Kumar and Balbir Singh Uppal. Innovo will market and distribute basmati rice processed and packed by Pan Gulf Food and Industries and Lakshmi Energy and Foods Ltd (LEAF India) exclusively across the Middle East and North Africa. Innovo aims to sell 80 percent of its products through large trade channel partners/ importers/ distributors. The balance will be distributed to wholesale/retail outlets within the GCC on a cash and carry basis from its JAFZA warehouse.

Basmati rice has bonded India and the Gulf for centuries. The fine, long grained, fragrant basmati rice is the leading imported food item into the Middle East. It is almost exclusively grown in Punjab in a fertile area irrigated by five Himalayan rivers stretching across the India- Pakistan border and a small region at the foothills of the Himalayas. 70% of world's supply of basmati rice comes from India alone.

H.H. Prince Mishaal of Saudi Arabia is the Chairman of Zad Investment Company and Anaam International Holdings – a leading food distribution company in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. V. Raman Kumar founded MModal, a billion dollar healthcare technology company before selling it to JP Morgan. Holding an intimate knowledge of the Indian and international markets, he is now an active strategic investor investing across sectors globally. Balbir Singh Uppal is the visionary founder of India based publicly traded Lakshmi Energy and Foods Ltd (LEAF India)). He built one of the largest basmati rice manufacturing facilities in the world. LEAF’s state of the art mill spread over 125 acres has an annual processing capacity of over 1,000,000 tonnes of paddy rice and over 350,000 tonnes of polished/finished basmati rice.

The ever increasing demand for basmati rice has been primarily driven by Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Iran, Iraq and GCC countries accounting for over 4 million tons of basmati rice consumption every year. The Middle East has always been looking for suppliers who can deliver reliable and consistent quality of this rarified food from India.

In a joint statement, H.H. Prince Mishaal and Mr Raman Kumar have stated, “Many initiatives like Pan Gulf Food and Industries and Innovo are required to meet the increasing demand for quality basmati rice in this region. Active involvement of large international basmati rice manufacturing companies with renowned supply chain and distribution companies acting as partners to meet this ever increasing demand has become inevitable. With the large state of the art storage, processing and packaging facility at Jebel Ali, ably supported by our partner company Lakshmi Energy and Foods Ltd (LEAF India) with its unparalleled strength of sourcing large quantities of quality basmati rice from its network of over 300,000 farmers in Punjab, our vision of creating a regional basmati rice powerhouse that connects the farm to the market in this region will materialize within one year.”

“Our premium brands of basmati rice, Big Dad, Uncle Chef, Lazeez and Afreen will soon be available across UAE and other Gulf countries with the label ‘Processed/Packed by Pan Gulf Foods and Industries FZ Co’ and ‘Marketed by Innovo Specialty Foods JLT”, they added.

About Innovo Specialty Foods JLT

Innovo Specialty Foods JLT - is the exclusive marketing and sales arm for Pan Gulf/LEAF products in the entire MENA region. In addition to serving its client base in the region, Innovo will also be developing its own brands for premium rice/food products.

About Pan Gulf Foods and Industries FZCO

Pan Gulf Foods and Industries FZCO- is a platform set up to store, process and package LEAF products for sales and distribution across the MENA region on an exclusive basis. The company has already established state-of-the-art warehousing facility in Jebel Ali. The company will be looking to enhance its footprint across the region and has plans to build up capacity to handle 100,000mts of basmati rice through its storage and processing systems.

About Lakshmi Energy and Foods Ltd  (LEAF India)

Lakshmi Energy and Foods Limited is one of the largest end-to-end rice processing organisations in the world. Based in Khamano in the Indian Punjab, the company sources premier quality rice directly from more than 300,000 farmers. The paddy is then processed in its state-of-the-art rice milling facility, which is the largest in the world. Using top quality Satake (Japan) machinery, the plant processes 1.2 million metric tonnes of rice paddy to produce more than 650,000 metric tonnes of rice including 350,000 metric tonnes of superior quality basmati rice. Since its inception in 1981, LEAF has been supplying to top tier customers both in India and overseas.