25 Sept - NutraCea, a world leader in stabilized rice bran (SRB), nutrient research and technology, has announced that they have received an initial purchase order from a health food marketer in China to introduce a nutritionally-fortified baby cereal into the Chinese market.
The products will launch in February 2009 with the intention that they will eventually be available in Supermarkets and Specialty Baby Stores throughout China.
"Our customer has over 50 regional sales offices all over China and intends to distribute this custom-made, nutritionally-enhanced baby cereal product on a national scale in China once the initial introduction has been made," said Kody Newland, Senior Vice President of NutraCea.
According to the Chinese Company, "Our goal is to penetrate about 5% of the baby cereal market within five years. The total baby cereal market is about $580 million USD today."
"We are very pleased to be able to meet the demands of our customer by custom blending to their product specifications and providing them with a very unique, one of a kind baby cereal for the Chinese market," said Newland.
The product is scheduled to hit the market in China in February, 2009 and could have the potential to eventually reach up to millions of pounds of cereal annually.
"In previous conference calls, we have mentioned customers that will be serviced from the new Phoenix facility scheduled for startup in the fourth quarter 2008; this is one such customer," said Leo Gingras, Chief Operating Officer of NutraCea.