November 11, 2006

 

RFM enters ready-to-drink milk market
 

 

Philippine food conglomerate RFM Corporation has entered venture into ready-to-drink (RTD) milk business through its recently launched Selecta Fortified Filled Milk product.

 

RFM president and chief executive officer Jose Concepcion III told Philippine Star that the company sees huge potential in the RTD milk market which is currently dominated by the more expensive fresh and non-fat milk manufacturers.

 

The RTD milk market, Concepcion pointed out, is currently worth about P4.5 billion (US$90.22 million), as the bulk of the market remains with the powdered milk segment.

 

Concepcion said except for the Philippines, Indonesia and one other Latin American country, most of the milk sold globally is already in liquid or RTD form.

 

The RTD milk trend, he foresees, would provide convenience, safety and affordability to the Filipino consumers.

 

RFM's Selecta Fortified Filled Milk is packed in tetrapak beverage cartons and uses purified water. Most powdered milk users either use ordinary tap water that may not be safe, or expensive mineral water, which increases the cost of the milk drink, Concepcion noted.

 

Concepcion said RFM is positioning its milk product for the C, D and E segments. In fact, he said the product will hopefully become known as the "people's milk."

 

RFM's white milk product is priced at a more affordable P43 (US$0.86) for the one litre pack compared to a competitor brand which cost P55 (US$1.10) for a similar volume; P12.50 (US$0.25) for a 250 ml pack compared to P17 (US$0.34) for the competing brand, and P6.85 (US$0.13) for the 150-ml size.

 

At present, RFM produces a variety of RTD juice and chocolate milk beverages under the brands Sunkist and Selecta Moo.

 

RFM's beverage business is currently worth around US$20 million but with the introduction of its white milk product, Concepcion predicts that it would eventually be a major revenue earner for the company in as short as one year.

 

RFM is also using a novel way to market its latest milk product by offering small enterprise packages to local communities that would be interested in distributing Selecta Fortified Filled Milk products.