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If you study the local market and have a Unique Delling Proposition, sure you will conquer our island.

Many people have done it in a way or another. Why not you??

Hello,

It will all depend how much u will invest, job creation and annual turnover

The first angle to look out is the substitute products. We don't have many (if not at all) Made in Mauritius cheese. It would be something nice on the outset to have a local cheese. 

Nothing stops you from making artisan cheese.  Getting a living out of it is another thing.  That having said, you can scale down production to match profitability and revenue.  You can work this up gradually, but I believe you already know the 'business side' of it.

Your project has the merit of bringing some fresh air in the agro-alimentary sector - an industry which the Government is trying to develop.

I love the idea of making local cheese here, I myself have already tried to make feta type cheese , cottage cheese, and kajmak in the past for my own use, when these products were not (or insufficiently) available. However you should take the following into account: 1) there is an abundance of french type cheeses on the market at quite competitive prices (compared to europe). There is also parmesan, feta, cottage cheese, mascarpone and cheddar cheese from south africa and australia at reasonable prices although rupture of stock occurs frequently. There was even excellent feta cheese from egypt at a very competitive price for some time but since a few months it has disappeared from the market.
2) for the local population cheese is synonymous with "Kraft" processed cheddar cheese and "La Vache Qui Rit" . There is also a local rather sweet, unfermented curdled white cheese made of milk and vinegar called "paneer" which is quite popular with the indians. Most mauritians I know have never even tried any other type of cheese and would hardly know what to do with it. The consumption of cheese other than those mentioned is limited to expats, tourists and a small (but nevertheless increasing) number of more cosmopolitan locals. So there is definitely a market but it is quite limited, at least for the time being.
3) the main problem is fresh milk. The production of fresh milk has dropped recently due to a decrease in live stock (cattle) breeding and even the big companies specializing in dairy products (mainly yoghurt) have problems to secure their fresh milk supplies (usually they mix fresh milk with powder milk). Although there is an abundance of goats on the island I have not been able to find goat milk either so far but then I haven't tried too hard, Perhaps this could work for upmarket "exotic" cheese specialities in small batches. Powder milk is available but I doubt you could make a decent cheese out of it...

I would not recommend cheese production in Mauritius. It will not be commercially viable. unless you can beat the quality of kraft and Bega and the current price of Rs 60 (at promotional price) for the 250g pack.

Alternatively, i would recommend meat production. if you need help let me know

Good morning Rikia

I must confess that the approach of Nadeem is a most enlightened one, and comprises all the essential aspects linked to the project.

Still, you will have to source fresh milk, the production of which, as rightly pointed out by hunczutpoffa has significantly gone down over the years.

Indeed, this could be a wonderful one, should you be able to smartly combine quality and price.

Cheers

Vayid

There is a producer of fresh milk in the south

For fresh milk, here is a link to an article about one of the dairy farms on the island. You may want to get in touch with them.

Hi all, thank you to all the Mauritians above that have given such awesome feedback, what a refreshing outlook to have people helping. I am also a cheese manufacturer in South Africa, we make a Standard Mozarella, Buffalo Mozarella and the ONLY REAL Fat Free Mozarella in the world. USA offers a powdered Fat Free Cheese, but it is analogue as opposed to real cheese. The Fat Free is brand new and is patented worldwide (Flab-U-Less) and can be used to make up the first ever Fat Free Pizza, Fat Free Mac 'n Cheese. These products would be predominantly for the USA market of $4.2 billion a year (Frozen Pizza) and $5.7 billion a year (Mac 'n Cheese).

Another product that we have taken 5 years to develop, which may fall in line with your 'low milk' supply, is the first POWDERED YOGHURT in the world. It contains both Pro-Biotics and Live Cultures and does not need refrigeration. You simply pour the powder from a sachet into a bowl or cup, add water and mix it up. It's called Quick Yo and although the powder is mixed in SA we are looking for a country to pack it and distribute to the both Africa and the world. Are there business partners in Mauritius looking to get into new projects and would this be of interest?

Hi Everyone,

@ Jenlee0909, for business partners, you will have to drop an advert in the Business partners in Mauritius section of the website please.

Interested members will surely get in touch.

All the best,
Bhavna