With 100 percent locally grown raw materials:

Cerestar to invest Rs 100 m on food products

Ramani KANGARAARACHCHI

Cerestar (Pvt) Ltd will invest Rs 100 million to manufacture healthy food products using 100 percent locally grown raw material. The pilot project includes a range of nutritionally enriched flavoured snacks, breakfast cereals and functional food products.

Managing Director, Cerestar (Pvt) Ltd Prabath Fonseka told Daily News Business that the new 15,000 sq. ft. factory at Bandaragama will be opened by Prime Minister Ratnasiri Wickramanayake on October 1.

A new milling plant with the latest technology imported from China was installed in the new factory by a Chinese team who was in Sri Lanka to train the local staff in its operations.

The products target the local and export market. “I am working closely with Bangladesh, the Maldives and some African countries with regard to the export market, Fonseka said.

The award winning exporter hoped that the functional food products will have a good demand in the local and international markets as they are focused on food beyond nutrition which has additional health benefits.

He said that Cerestar will be known as ‘The Functional Food Company’ under the brand name ‘Nutrimate’.

Functional foods such as Soya, lowers the cholesterol level apart from providing protein for the body and similarly fibre diets such as rice crackers controls diabetes. He plans to go for mass production following the success of this pilot project. There will be around 100 employment opportunities for people in the area once full scale production begins.

Fonseka who is also the Chairman of Agro Nutrition (Pvt) Ltd., said that he was determined to start a 100 percent local industry for the country and his wide experience in manufacturing and exporting veterinary premixes, pharmaceuticals, aquaculture feeds and feed additives to 10 countries helped him to set up the new company.