Germany-based Horauf is a leading manufacturer of high-end paper cup and paper container making machines. It also has a graphic machinery division which manufactures book cases, lever arch files and three-knife trimmers. The company’s paper cup and container division has the BMP line of machines, which offer technology for efficient production of all kinds of cups and containers. The BMI line offers technology for double-wall insulated cup production. Horauf has its headquarter and manufacturing plant in Donzdorf in Germany with subsidiaries in USA, China, Japan and Singapore.
At the Shanghai World of Packaging 2017 (SWOP), the company actively promoted its cup-making solutions. In China, Horauf has been operating for almost two decades and has a good installations base. However, it does not have any presence in India.
“For us India is still a very small market. Currently, the Indian paper cup making market is dominated by cheap Indian and Chinese machines; and since we deal in very high-end, high-speed machines, we still do not have much market share in India,” said Jim Foote, vice president – business development, Asia Pacific.
Even though Horauf has no major customers in India, the company is not ignoring the market here altogether. Foote informed that that the company is keeping a close eye on the Indian market as it gradually matures, and as volumes increase. The Indian coffee drinking market is still evolving and is significantly smaller than the Chinese market.
“We are looking for customers who have large volumes and there are not many in this segment in India. However, we are closely following the development in the Indian market. We are aware of the entities who make paper cups in India, but they are not ready for our machines yet as they do not have volumes,” Foote added.
There are no installations of new Horauf machines in India but there are a few second-hand machines. The company will be looking at customers who make paper cups for companies like McDonalds, Starbucks, etc. “We are just waiting till the market matures. There is a small coffee market in India. We visit regularly to keep track of the market,” he said.
Finally talking about the Chinese market, he said that although fragmented, the Chinese coffee market is large in size and there are big volumes for paper cups.
“The coffee market is disintegrated but strong for us to be around,” he concluded.
