Nutramix making waves in the Caribbean

In an interview at the company’s Point Lisas offices, Bharath reflected upon the company’s successes to date and its plans for the future. He recalled that it was only in October 2004, nearly one year ago, that Nutramix commissioned its $250 million mill at Point Lisas. Because the international flour industry is such a high volume-driven market, Bharath explained that it was fundamental for anyone entering this business to have large volumes of product "to ensure that you keep your unit costs down." "Our energies here have been channelled into having high quality product and driving high volumes through plant to reduce unit cost," he added.

Since coming onstream, Nutramix has been giving its longstanding competitor National Flour Mills (NFM) a good run for its money. Bharath insists that it was the entry of Nutramix into the local arena which resulted in a reduction in domestic flour prices being passed on the consumer. The company now has a 20 percent share of the domestic flour market and Bharath says he hopes Nutramix can build upon it. However the company has not been confining its activities to these shores and only last month made its first shipment of 20 to 25 tonnes of flour to Dominica. Additional Nutramix flour shipments will be leaving Trinidad and Tobago for Antigua and Aruba very shortly.

Explaining that the Caribbean offered an oyster of opportunities for a company like Nutramix, Bharath said the company is actively pursuing opportunities to export flour to Barbados, Guyana, Jamaica, Curacao and Suriname. "We are very close to exporting to those markets," he disclosed. Asked about the level of competition which Nutramix could expect in the wider Caribbean, Bharath was very optimistic about the company’s chances for success in these markets — both against regional and international competitors. Besides TT, there are flour mills in Barbados, St Vincent and Jamaica.

However these mills, just like the NFM mill in Port-of-Spain, are aged facilities. According to Bharath, this will give Nutramix a "significant advantage both in terms of the quality of the product we can manufacture and the levels of efficiency at which we will operate." He explained that while both Nutramix and NFM use the same quality and type of wheat grain from the United States to manufacture their flour, the profound difference is the manner in which the flour is milled. Bharath compared Nutramix’s flour products to the pillsbury flour produced in the United Kingdom. "In fact, if you open a bag of (Nutramix) flour, it’s a much more finer blend," Bharath said.

He said Nutramix’s flour allows pastry products to be "a lot flakier and fluffier at the end." "The product takes in more water and gives more yield," the Nutramix CEO stated. He even claimed that local bakers say they "get five or six quarts of hops more" using Nutramix’s flour as compared to any other product.

Bharath also said the Caribbean Single Market and Economy (CSME) would further enhance Nutramix’s chances for success in the region. He said to compete meaningfully in any enterprise, people had to learn to embrace globalisation and Nutramix was not about to turn its back and run away in the face of competition. "We fervently believe that if anybody could manufacture a quality product and offer it at a competitive price, we could force our market. The opening up of markets is an opportunity rather than a disadvantage. We are very happy for larger markets and access for larger markets," he declared. On the subject of larger markets, Bharath said Nutramix was actively exploring opportunities in Venezuela, Puerto Rico and Miami.

Stating that the company’s mill produces 500 tonnes of flour per day, Bharath said there were no plans to increase production capacity but Nutramix was always looking to increase its efficiency levels. The Nutramix CEO said that as larger volumes of grain are run through the mill, there is the opportunity to learn more about how it operates and "where you could tweak it to get greater efficiency."

In addition to flour, Nutramix also produces animal feed and chicken for the local market through its respective subsidiary companies — Nutramix Feed Mills and Nutrina Farms. However Bharath hinted that Nutramix was not resting on its laurels and content to confine itself to these types of products. He disclosed that the company has always be exploring the possibility of going into rice and cooking oil production for the local market since these commodities are "just a natural extension to our line of products."

Noting the longstanding argument about importing rice from other countries such as Guyana, Bharath contends that there is no reason why TT "can’t grow its own rice" and Nutramix could show how it’s done if it had the chance to put 10,000 acres of land belonging to the now defunct Caroni (1975) Ltd under rice cultivation.

Noting that TT still has some agricultural lands that can be used to grow food for the local market, Bharath argues that Government just needs "the political will to do it."