Ceylon Biscuits Ghana operation going strong
Mr. Ramya Wickramasingha
Ceylon Biscuit Ltd, owners of the famous Munchee brand have established a strong foothold in Ghana and are exporting to neighbouring countries, top officials said.
The company, which started to export to Ghana about seven years ago, resorted to establishing a factory in Ghana, three years ago. “We have a strong presence in Ghana. The Munchee brand is strong, and we spent a lot of money on creating and developing the brand. However, a few years ago Ghana slapped a duty on imported biscuits. Subsequently, the country devaluing its currency forced us to establish a factory there,” Ramya Wickramasingha, Chairman Munchee Biscuits Ltd, told the Business Times on Wednesday. Over the past two months, Ghana has devalued its currency by over 40 per cent.
Ceylon Biscuits’ factory in Ghana has a capacity of five to six tonnes a shift. “We are now exporting to neighbouring countries like Sierra Leone from Ghana,” Mr. Wickramasingha added.
Ghana is the company’s second stop in venturing abroad after Bangladesh.
Ceylon Biscuits subsidiary, Plenty Foods Limited which is into agriculture with a 12,000 farmers’ base is now sourcing peanuts from the farmers who they have outsourced to grow them. “Earlier we imported peanuts, but now we produce them locally. We have outsourced this operation,” Mr. Wickramasingha explained.
One of Munchee’s signature brands, the Kome Rice crackers introduced to the market a couple of years ago, which need a special type of rice, is also being locally produced and the operation is outsourced, he added.
The company is also exporting organic dried fruit to the European and the US markets.
Mr. Wickramasingha added that the Sri Lankan market for them is a little bit depressed right now with other companies also experiencing the same thing. High prices in all things, including raw materials pushed by high inflation, have affected the local market, along with the Ukraine and Russian war and the global situation, he added.
However, he was very confident the country will bounce back. “I am personally confident that the country will rebound within the next year or so,” he said.
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