Capitalizing on the momentous growth of Sri Lanka’s natural foods market, Maliban Biscuit Manufactories last week announced the launch of three new taste variants which, this pioneer biscuits manufacturer said, has revolutionized the "crackers segment".

"There are no products in the local market to match the Maliban Vegy, Classic and Fun Crackers, which have been developed with European expertise", Group CEO Lakshman Weerasuriya asserted.

"We have coupled foreign technology with natural ingredients to produce innovative crackers to suit the local palate", he explained. "In Sri Lanka, crackers account for 40% of the total biscuits market".

A lot of research and development went into producing a novel variant from the age-old cream crackers, the CEO told journalists at a news conference at the company’s Ratmalana production facility.

"We have now filled the vacuum with three new locally-made crackers variants which offer a delectable option to consumers", Weerasuriya noted. "They have been consuming cream crackers for decades".

With the trend towards natural foods and vegetarianism gaining steady ground, these three new products offer the ideal answer to the health-conscious as well, said Ravi Jayawardena, CEO – Sales and Marketing.

He said that unlike earlier, consumers are now more knowledgeable and selective as they check on the ingredients, expiry date and price of the products they purchase.

Jayawardena said that Maliban launched the new cracker variants to the market sans a grand launch three weeks ago and the response, despite the curtailed publicity drive, has been overwhelming. "The price and quality had a huge impact on sales".

"We are maintaining a thin margin on the new products sold at 30 rupees per pack when they should be actually priced at about 45 rupees", Group CEO Weerasuriya pointed out. "There are also imported ingredients such as butter and cheese which go into them".

Imported varieties of crackers cost more than 150 rupees per pack, he said. "But, we wanted to ensure our products are affordable and within reach".

He said that in accordance with the vision of Maliban’s founder, the late A. G. Hinniappuhamy, the company does not deliberately maintain enormous margins on the products it manufactures to feed the nation. "Quality and Innovation is our religion".

Asked by The Sunday Island how Maliban would react to the claim by a major competitor which now describes itself as the "market leader in biscuits in Sri Lanka", he replied, "We still dominate the market as the pioneer biscuit producer in the country. We are the leader. Others follow us. We don’t go behind anyone".

A: When we were faced with a workers’ strike, they could have made inroads into our leadership stake. But, we dominate now. May be during one particular month, they could have more sales on certain categories but the next month we over-take them. It happens that way also.

Hashan Haputhanthri, Marketing Manager: "Some of these competitors talk big in the media but when it comes to their promises, they fail to deliver on them. Maliban biscuits are also No. 1 in the supermarket segment. As you know, supermarkets cater to people of all walks of life. We also service 75,000 outlets, which we are looking at increasing to 100,000.

Responding to another question, he said that Sri Lanka’s competitive biscuit industry has not witnessed significant growth during the past six months as a result of the economic downturn.