AVT Natural Products is a specialist manufacturer that turns marigold flowers, spices and tea leaves into concentrated extracts for the world’s food, beverage and nutrition companies. Incorporated in 1986 and listed in India, it built its business by mastering the chemistry of oleoresins - the potent, oily concentrates that carry colour, flavour and active nutrients - and now ships those ingredients to customers in 35 countries, with exports generating over 92% of its turnover. The recurring approach is a vertically integrated one: the company breeds its own seeds, works directly with thousands of small farmers to grow the crop, and then extracts, purifies and ships the finished ingredient from its own factories, controlling quality from the field to the customer’s door. # Business segments A single extraction platform feeding five distinct ingredient engines - marigold oleoresins for eye health, spice oleoresins for flavour and colour, value-added teas for global beverage brands, natural feed additives for animal nutrition, and rosemary antioxidants under a long-term alliance - all built on the same in-house R&D and manufacturing backbone. ## 1. Marigold and spice oleoresins: the colour-and-flavour engine that the business stands on **Marigold extracts supply the global nutraceutical and poultry industries with natural lutein, while spice oleoresins replace synthetic colours and flavours in processed food - together they account for nearly two-thirds of the company’s turnover.** - **The marigold crop is home-grown, not just bought** - the company runs its own hybrid seed development programme and has commercialised a new higher-yielding hybrid, which reduces dependence on external seed suppliers and lets it introduce varieties with better active content. The new hybrid was cultivated on roughly 1,000 acres during the Summer/Monsoon season in 2021-22. - **Sourced from thousands of small farms** - 80% of the company’s total procurement by value comes directly from small farmers with small land areas, so the supply chain is built on relationships rather than commodity markets. - **A safety stock cushions the harvest cycle** - because marigold yields swing with the weather - poor rains followed by flooding in the main Davangere growing area have historically hurt flower yields - the company keeps a safety stock to meet long-term customer commitments and is constantly identifying new growing areas with different agro-climatic conditions to spread the risk. - **Spice oleoresins ride the single-buyer trend** - multinational food companies increasingly follow a global single-point buying strategy for spice extracts, and the company competes by working with key customers over extended periods to develop customised products and deliver high service levels. ## 2. Value-added teas: the decaf and instant engine for global beverage brands **The company strips caffeine from tea and turns brewed tea into soluble powder for multinational beverage customers, making it a behind-the-scenes ingredient partner rather than a consumer brand.** - **Two products, one customer type** - the segment covers decaffeinated teas and instant teas, both sold to large multinational accounts that the company works with closely to meet specific requirements through consistent innovation. - **A thousand-tonne milestone** - the instant tea segment alone crossed 1,000 metric tonnes of product sales in FY21, signalling the scale at which global beverage companies rely on this supply. - **R&D feeds the pipeline** - in-house research has produced new soluble tea offerings for instant tea customers, helping the company consolidate its position as a leading player in the value-added tea market against Chinese and European competitors. ## 3. Animal health and nutrition: the feed-additive engine built on strategic alliances **Natural botanical extracts are formulated into feed additives that improve livestock nutrition, sold through a global partnership with a leading feed-additive company rather than directly to farmers.** - **A strategic alliance opens the market** - the company has a sales partnership with Nutreco, a leading global feed additive company, with commercial operations and co-development that started in the first quarter of the new financial year. The partnership has continued to grow with new products developed jointly. - **ROI is the selling point** - the company’s products carry a positive return-on-investment proposition for animal nutrition customers, which has allowed it to keep servicing them even when cost pressures rise. - **R&D creates the entry ticket** - new complimentary product lines with nutritional applications have been developed, and new products for the animal health division have been developed in partnership with a strategic partner, enabling inroads with global customers in a segment the company considers strategically important. ## 4. Rosemary extract and strategic antioxidants: the long-term contract engine **Under a five-year supply agreement with one of the world’s largest antioxidant companies, the company grows and processes rosemary into clean-label antioxidant ingredients for the food and beverage industry.** - **A locked-in customer for five years** - the company entered into a strategic five-year agreement with Kemin Industries Inc., USA, to service their requirement for rosemary, with the first year of production recorded in FY21. - **Riding the clean-label wave** - global demand for natural antioxidants remains strong as food manufacturers replace synthetic preservatives, and rosemary extract sits squarely in that trend. - **Purpose-built processing** - the company invested specifically in rosemary processing capability to serve this agreement, treating it as a dedicated production line for a single large customer rather than a commodity operation. ## 5. Emerging verticals: dermacosmetics, nutraceuticals and agri-inputs **Three new business lines are being built on the company’s existing extraction technology - science-backed cosmetic ingredients, clinically studied nutraceuticals, and biological crop inputs that reduce pesticide use - all still in the study, patenting or test-marketing phase.** - **Clinical data is the differentiator** - the company is bringing science-based solutions with clinical data to the new cosmetic and nutraceutical divisions; clinical studies for a dermacosmetic ingredient have been completed and manufacturing and marketing efforts have begun, while pre-clinical studies for nutraceutical applications are done and full clinical studies are planned. - **Patents are being filed** - new applications and formulations are being protected with patents as the company builds an intellectual-property moat around these ingredients before they reach the market. - **Agri-inputs are field-tested** - the agricultural crop inputs division has completed test marketing and finalised its product portfolio, with an official launch planned; the portfolio focuses on reducing pesticide usage and promoting sustainable agriculture practices. Shareholders approved expanding the company’s legal objects in August 2022 to cover agrochemical products including insecticides, fungicides, herbicides and plant nutrients. # Manufacturing, R&D and sustainability backbone **Three factories, an in-house seed-to-extract R&D programme, and a waste-as-fuel philosophy form the shared infrastructure that every product engine runs on.** - **Three plants, all in India** - the factories are located in Aluva (Kerala), Sathyamangalam (Tamil Nadu) and Tiptur (Karnataka), with no international manufacturing footprint; a windmill at Kokkampalayam supplies captive power to the Sathyamangalam factory. - **R&D spans the whole chain** - work is organised into four streams: process improvements that cut manufacturing costs, marigold hybrid seed development, new product lines, and entirely new business segments. The company holds DSIR-approved in-house R&D facilities at Aluva and Bangalore. - **Waste fuels the boilers** - post-extraction plant waste is used as boiler fuel, supplying over 10% of the fuel needed for steam generation; a sludge dryer turns effluent-treatment sludge into additional boiler fuel, saving 90 metric tonnes of coal-equivalent fuel annually. - **Water is recovered and reused** - a process RO plant recovers pond water (12,500 kilolitres recovered), and a wastewater treatment and recycling system replenishes cooling towers and garden water. - **Certifications back the claims** - almost all manufacturing sites hold ISO 9001 and ISO 14001 certifications, and the company adheres to additional standards including ISO 45001, Rainforest Alliance, Fair Trade and FSSAI. # Group structure and partners **A single Indian parent company operates the manufacturing engine, while wholly owned subsidiaries in Mexico, the UK, Dubai and the US act as dedicated sales and marketing arms for each product line and region.** - **Three direct subsidiaries cover the globe** - AVT Natural SA DE CV (Mexico) markets animal nutrition products into South America; AVT Natural Europe Ltd (UK) handles decaffeinated and instant tea sales; and AVT Natural FzCO (Dubai), incorporated following a board decision in February 2023, markets animal nutrition, instant tea, food additives, and cosmetic and nutraceutical ingredients. - **A US step-down subsidiary reaches North America** - AVT Natural North America Inc., incorporated in March 2020, is a subsidiary of the UK entity and extends the sales network into the United States. - **Two strategic partnerships lock in volume** - a five-year supply agreement with Kemin Industries covers the rosemary antioxidant business, and a strategic sales partnership with Nutreco drives the animal nutrition division, giving both engines a committed customer rather than a spot-market relationship.