Pakistan Potato Chips Industry Introduction
Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a sovereign country in South Asia. With a population exceeding 180 million people, it is the sixth most populous country and with an area covering 796,095 k㎡ (307,374 sq mi), it is the 36th largest country in the world in terms of area. As the country is so big, the climate varies from tropical to temperate. so the wheat production is very high and rice ,cotton are also exported to other countries.
With such climate, the potatoes are harvested three times a year. Potatoes usually exported to other countries. Potato farming systems in Pakistan are comparatively complex and diverse. The northern area of the Pakistan is the main seed producing area and supply seed to the rest of the country. Potato is the only source of income in northern area.
Market of Potatoes of Pakistan
Due to its favourable climate, Pakistan potatoes production is quite generous. Pakistan is one of the largest potato producing countries. However, Pakistan as one developing country is lack of storage and processing facilities, which leads to lots of potatoes wasted and the products being in poor quality. Lack of storage facilities also lead to fluctuation in price during the off-season.
Pakistan Potato Production
Potato as a cash crop is grown in Pakistan on about 145,000 hectares distributed over eight different agro-ecological zones. About 70 to 80 percent of the production is concentrated in the irrigated plains of the central Punjab and Southeast North West Frontier Province. There are three seasons of potato cultivation, i.e.autumn, spring and summer.
The potato harvest seasons and the production volumes which differ from crop to crop are as follows:
| Season | Production |
| November-March (Autumn Crop) | — (Punjab & NWFP plains) |
| Jan-Feb (peak harvest) | 85% of the national potato production |
| April-May (Summer Crop) | 5% (Punjab & NWFP plains) |
| July-September (High hills) | 5% (Northern Areas) |
| September- October (High hills) | 5% (NWFP & Balochistan) |
The above chart indicates that bulk of the potato crop is harvested from January to March. And the off-season is November to
March. This results the fluctuation in prices. The market prices during January to March are lower than the remaining months.
This encourages exports which too are mostly made from the autumn crop.
Pakistan potato Exports
The potential export market for snacks existed in the Middle East, Gulf countries and Central Asian States which has not been
explored, for example, Afghan and China. For the next decade, the export prospects are very bright. Besides that, tariff cuts
under Trade Agreements are anticipated, which will increase the benefits in exports.
Pakistan total export of potatoes in 2007 was $34.5 million and in 2008 was $20.6 million. Sri Lanka was the major importing
country of potato with the share of 56.4% in Pakistan total potato export in 2008. Iran was the second major country and the
share was 17.1%. Malaysia was the third. Pakistan also exporting potatoes to Afghanistan, U.A.E, Iraq, Singapore, Oman etc.
Market Information about Potato Chips
The Current Potato Chips Market
With the advent of globalization and adoption of the western culture, potato chips have become a major part of the snacks
industry. The current potato chips market is owned by a few local potato chips brand and a single international brand-Lay’s.
Lay’s, Super Crisps, Golden Chips, Smiths, Kolson and Krincles lead the potato chips market and own 60% of the potato chips
market. The remaining market share is owned by local unbranded potato chips.
Market Research & Trend & Analysis
With the improvement of life standard and the advent of globalization, demand for high quality and international quality snacks
is growing. People pay more attention on health issues and require healthier snack. However, only few industries, such as Lay’s,
can meet this demand. This give a potential market for the new player to enter. The new player can gain the remain market share
through produce high quality potato chips and heavy promotion campaign and advertisements.
Pakistan Snacks Industry
Pakistan, being an “impressive great country” for foreign investors from the multinational companies (MNCs) like PepsiCo
International, still has great potential in snacks market, especially potato chips market in nowadays.
In 2009 the global savory snacks market was worth $74.7bn. This growth is observed in emerging markets. The market is set
to grow in value by $10.8bn to $85.4bn by 2012 . The market for savory snacks in Pakistan increased at a compound annual
growth rate of 7.4% between 2004 and 2009. The potato chips category led the savory snacks market in Pakistan, accounting
for a share of 48.1%, which came from the changing in life styles and traditional eating habits.
Demand and Supply
According to the survey carried out by SMEDA, the market segment with respect to age is as follows. It indicates that 65%
consumers are in the age group of 5 to20 years old as they are influenced with the media advertisement. This group may
become loyal to brand.
Based on market research, about 60% of the customers are brand loyal and the remaining is unbranded loyal which can gain
through heavy promotion activities and advertisement campaign.
Target Customers
The target market of potato chips are children, teenagers and youngsters. 70% of children eat snacks at school and potato chips are their first choice as they are easy to carry and have unique and delicious tastes.
By the method of market segmentation, one of the major target market is children and young audiences of sports and entertainments such as consumers in theaters or stadiums even at home.With the development of globalization and the media, the western life style and taste have influenced the native a lot and have a big attraction towards them about the western things. People are more interested in western food, especially potato chips.
Company Profile
Adhering to the principle of managing scientifically and honesty and credit,our factory has passed ISO9001-2000 quality system certification. Now, Our factory can provide potato dry cleaning machine, potato washing machine, potato peeling machine, potato sticks cutting machine, potato grader, potato chips production line, potato starch production line, potato mesh bag packing machine, potato dosing packing machine.
Our potato processing products have passed with CE,ISO and SGS Certificates and has been widely sold all over the world.
