Ajinomoto and Toyo Suisan in JV for instant noodles in India

World’s leading food additive maker Ajinomoto Co., Inc. and Japanese ramen noodles maker Toyo Suisan Kaisha, Ltd. has exchanged a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to establish a joint venture company in the instant noodle business in India.

The JV is targeting at approximately 500 million servings, i.e. market share of about 15% in the four states of South India – Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Kerala and Andhra Pradesh. The launch is scheduled in the year of 2016.

Indian noodle market is estimated to be a 4.4-billion-servings market with average growth rate 22% per year, as per data from the World Instant Noodles Association.

Toyo Suisan entered the instant noodle business in 1961 and is a general manufacturer of food products centered on noodles, holding the world’s top share of fresh noodles and conducting a frozen noodle business. In its domestic instant noodle business, sales are steadily expanding with the hit product “Maruchan Seimen”. Its constitute a current share of about 60% of the U.S. market and a predominant share of more than 80% of the market in Mexico.

This launch in India will enable Ajinomoto to enhance the competitiveness of its instant noodle business with the strengths of Toyo Suisan in instant noodle development and production technology, as well as the knowledge it has accumulated over many years in competitive markets. At the same time, Toyo Suisan will be able to rapidly enter growth markets using the sales infrastructure and marketing capability of Ajinomoto, it said in a statement.