Juice is the liquid that is naturally contained in fruit or vegetable tissue. Juice is prepared by mechanically squeezing or macerating fresh fruits or vegetables flesh without the application of heat or solvents. For example, orange juice is the liquid extract of the fruit of the orange tree. Juice may be prepared in the home from fresh fruits and vegetables using a variety of hand or electric juicers. Many commercial juices are filtered to remove fiber or pulp, but high-pulp fresh orange juice is a popular beverage. Juice may be marketed in concentrate form, sometimes frozen, requiring the user to add water to reconstitute the liquid back to its "original state". However, concentrates generally have a noticeably different taste from that of their "fresh-squeezed" counterparts. Other juices are reconstituted before packaging for retail sale. Common methods for preservation and processing of fruit juices include canning, pasteurization, freezing, evaporation and spray drying.
Fruit juices consist of 100% pure fruit juice made from the flesh of fresh fruit or concentrates and contain no preservatives or any other added ingredients. Some minor exceptions exist in order to ensure that the final product is of an acceptable taste. These exceptions are very specific and are controlled by government legislation in the form of the Fruit Juices & Nectars Regulations.
The branded fruit juices market inclusive of nectars is placed at about Rs 10 billion. The pure fruit juices are the preferred drink among the fruit drinks. This segment is growing at around 10% annually. The market for fruit juices is expected to grow to Rs. 7.50 billion by end 2009-10 from nearly Rs. 4.75 billion presently.
Consumption per capita of juices in India is very low. It is estimated at a fraction of a liter - 20 ml. China has attained a consumption level of 1500 ml. The consumption in India is basically an urban phenomenon. Nonetheless, it is gaining slow but steady penetration into the rural areas.
The market size of the food processing industry is likely to increase from Rs 4600 billion in 2003-04 to Rs 8200 billion in 2009-10, and to Rs 13,500 billion in 2014-15.In the coming years India’s share in the global processed food industry will get a raise from one per cent to three per cent. Indian food processing activity is still largely based on primary processing, which accounts for 80 per cent of the value addition. In the area of packaging, Tetra-Pak India, a part of the $ 10 billion Tetra Laval group, has become the major source of brick cartons amenable to aseptic packaging and imparting long product shelf-life to the foods. Tins, nonetheless still continue to be in the market in family size packing.
There is an ample space and good market potential for new entrepreneurs in this field.
