Heladiv Teas ventures into US, Australia markets

Heladiv Teas has expanded its market by venturing into the US with the first shipment of its stocks of teas sent about three months back.

Marketed under HVA Ceylon LLC, the company is based in California and would be selling stocks initially in Los Angeles and would be operating as a standalone company and not a part of HVA Foods PLC, the company’s Chairman Rohan Fernando told the Business Times.

Since Los Angeles is considered his “second home” he believes the cosmopolitan society would welcome the product in that city.

HVA Ceylon would stock and distribute Heladiv tea products in the US and office and warehouse space has been secured for the operation in this regard which would be headed by Mr. Harsha Fernando.

Moreover, the business is looking at expanding their ice tea business and it was noted that they would soon be exporting it to Australia under Heladiv.

Considering Australia to be a “competitive market,” Mr. Fernando explained that initially they would be looking at marketing ice teas in small quantities as ready-to-drink beverages in the new destination.

Heladiv teas has penetrated the US market using its tea concentrates and specialty teas, the company stated in its Annual Report 2017/2018.

Moreover, HVA Foods has been making a number of changes internally in view of the rising costs by outsourcing manufacture to four service providers, which they believe would help reduce their costs on overheads.

In addition they have released their property in Kandana on lease and have also released a stock of machinery for disposal with an expected inflow of approximately Rs.15 million.

As a first step, the board had decided to segregate fixed assets from the business and explore the viability of outsourcing manufacture to preferred service providers, the Annual Report stated.