TRIVANDRUM, 12 February 2004 — Kerala-based Miracle Foods, a leading manufacturer and exporter of tender coconut-based products, will soon install 100 vending machines in Saudi cities, mainly in Makkah and Madinah.
“We have already worked out the details with our partners in the Kingdom. We will install the machines as soon as we get Saudi clearance,” said P. P. Ahmed Kutty, managing director of the company.
The maximum retail price would be SR1 for a glass of tender coconut drink. Each dispensing machine will have the capacity of producing 100 glasses of diluted coconut water per day. “We are popularizing the coconut water as a common man’s drink. I hope pilgrims will go for this healthy natural drink,” he said.
Miracle Foods exports a wide range of coconut-based products such as coconut water concentrate, coconut jam, coconut pulp and coconut sports drinks to Saudi Arabia, Oman, the UAE, Mauritius and west Africa. Its coconut drinks would soon be available on board major airlines in the Kerala-Gulf sector as well, he said. Kutty said his company currently procures 50,000 tender coconuts to produce 10,000 liters of coconut drinks everyday from the villagers near his factory at Perinthalmanna in Malappuram district. This will be increased to 150,000 a day as the capacity utilization is being stepped up to 100 percent in another three months. The company will also set up a joint venture manufacturing facility in Bangladesh.
