It’s rarely easy to develop a market for a relatively unknown food product. But knowing what you’re up against is half the battle, said Kishor Sabnis, who is attempting to sell flax oil to consumers in India and other regions in Asia.
Shape Foods, a flax processor in Brandon, has employed Sabnis to gain a foothold in India and other countries for its heart health flax oil, which is rich in omega 3 fatty acids that combat heart disease, diabetes and other health conditions.
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But, Sabnis admitted, flax oil faces obstacles in the Indian marketplace. One, when Indians think of flax oil, they often think of linseed oil, which can be used to make paint. Two, in North America, Shape Foods is marketing flax oil as a baking ingredient, for salad dressing, as a smoothie ingredient and a stir-fry oil. But stir-frying isn’t part of the Indian diet.
“In India… everything is deep fried. Chinese food also. When you deep fry, the omega 3 is destroyed,” said Sabnis, during a telephone interview from his home in northern California.
Yet, Sabnis may have discovered an indirect way to sell the benefits of flax to Indian consumers, by convincing food companies in India to fortify their products with Shape Foods’ flax meal. Those companies, in turn, will sell the public on the nutritional and health value of omega 3 flax.
“I will try to start going with the meal. Once people (are familiar) with the meal, then I will try and introduce the oil,” said Sabnis, vice-president for Australasia and the Middle East for Shape Foods.
The flax meal, Sabnis said, can be used to fortify bread, yogurt and other foods with lignins, fibre and omega 3 fatty acids.
Sabnis said he hopes to convince a company such as Unilever, which has large distribution networks in India, to use the flax meal in its products.
“Wheat flour… this can be fortified with our meal,” he said. “In a city like Mumbai, there are more than 100,000 outlets for their (Unilever) bread.”
Although more work needs to be done to achieve this type of arrangement, Sabnis said using the market power of established companies is the best way for Manitoba food processors to enter the Indian market.
Bonnie De Moissac, Manitoba Investment and Trade international business development manager, agreed with Sabnis’s philosophy. During an India agri-business forum, held at the Manitoba legislature in late March, De Moissac said it can be difficult for food processors to sell their products in India because of the complexity of the country’s regulatory system, tariffs on imported food and varying tastes between regions.
But if a Canadian company can find a reliable partner to represent its interests in South Asia, those obstacles can be overcome.
Unfortunately, she said Manitoban and Canadian businesspeople aren’t embracing the opportunities for food exports to India.
At the moment, pulses represent more than 99 percent of Canadian food exports to India, even though the country has a middle class with 300 million people.
“Other countries are much more aggressive than Canada,” said De Moissac. “Canadians and Manitobans particularly, we’re more conservative. We’re more methodical… but the opportunity will pass us by while we’re thinking about it.”
The key to success in India, Sabnis said, is perseverance and attitude, because Indians need to know that Canadians are committed to long-term business relationships.
“They like (Canadians)…. but they think (Canadians) are not serious enough about business.”
