News From : DagangHalal.com (23 May 2009)
KUALA LUMPUR, May 23 (Bernama) — Hot-Can Sdn Bhd, the developer of self-heating canned coffee, plans to tap the global halal market with its product to meet the increasing demand for halal goods.
Its chief executive officer Datuk Kenneth Kolb said there was huge potential to be tapped in the global market, particularly in the Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC) countries, with demand continuing to grow every year.
“The halal market is so big and Malaysia is a prominent producer of halal food products. We think it will be ridiculous not to take advantage of that,” he told Bernama in an interview recently.
Kolb said the company has projected sales of over one billion cans annually in the halal market and recently signed a distribution agreement for Turkey, the largest Muslim market in Europe.
He said that more than 200 billion beverage cans were sold annually in the global market and over 500 billion hot drinks consumed annually, with a small market share equating to greater demand than possible supply.
Hot-Can is a pioneer in the smart packaging arena and aims to continue setting new standards for quality, performance, speed and pricing of self-heating beverages in the global halal market.
Kolb said the company’s product was currently exported to six countries through exclusive distribution agreements, including two agreements which were signed during the recent World Halal Forum.
In addition to the six countries comprising Australia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, Turkey, Hong Kong and China, the company also supplied its product to the Malaysian army, he said.
Kolb said the company, based in Balakong, Selangor, began product development in 2000 and started exporting the product in November last year.
The plant, involving an investment of over RM20 million, can produce up to 27 million cans a year, he said.
“We hope to expand the production capacity to a billion cans over the next five years to cater to future demand,” Kolb said.
“We also looking for private equity type of investors but they can also be someone with distribution networks to handle the product in other markets,” he said.
Kolb said the product will be available in the local market in July this year, particularly at petrol kiosks nationwide.
Besides self-heating beverages, the company is also in the midst of developing new products such as self-heating baby formula and halal soups.
— BERNAMA