But we’re certainly at a point now where the $2 million of operating profit that we’re taking in is making a contribution. And the Indian market, in general, is a strong market for us both in Natur-Tec and for the ZERUST industrial. Specifically, if I talk about the Natur-Tec business, which isn’t included in any of the numbers that I just mentioned about the $2 million contribution. The Natur-Tec business that we have there as a separate company, they too have been seeing significant growth, significant contribution that’s similar to the growth rates we’ve been seeing in Natur-Tec in North America. And so that continues to be a big market just because of all of the opportunities that they have there in supplying various compostable materials.
We’re also seeing, as I kind of alluded to, they need to make an investment in China because we now have the opportunity to do some production of Natur-Tec resins at the facility or at what will be a new facility in India for the Natur-Tec group. That should continue to increase or help us increase the gross margins that we’re seeing we’re achieving across all of Natur-Tec. So we look at India as a very key contributor to us, both from a Natur-Tec and from a ZERUST industrial standpoint. Touching on the other — your other question about the joint venture contribution. The joint venture percentage contribution that you mentioned and referenced from the slide deck of about 10% to 11% of top line revenue going to our bottom line income has been pretty consistent for a while.
It’s gone up a little bit, down a little bit by a few percent but it’s been pretty consistent. So I don’t think that we have a — typically, the joint ventures and subsidiaries that we have around the world are servicing all the industrial markets that are out there. I don’t anticipate any new joint ventures from the standpoint of a new geographic region that we would go after that isn’t currently serviced by one of the entities that we have. I know that the joint ventures certainly work together and see what’s working for each joint venture. And hopefully, they can have various meetings, various technical meetings to understand what’s working and how they can further develop and further push products out through that distribution network that we have.
Patrick right now is calling in from Europe at a joint venture partners meeting where they come together and basically talk about what’s going well, what’s not going well, what’s different, what changes do we need to make, how do — what business do we need to go after and how can we accelerate revenue. That’s a normal function and that’s something that takes place on a very consistent basis. So I would expect that as we kind of go forward into Q3 and Q4 and then into our fiscal 2025, that we’re going to see a rebound and see the joint venture contributions and joint venture sales increase on their own, given the efforts that they’re doing right now.
John Bair: Okay. I mean, is there much opportunity in acquiring 100% of some of these JVs like you did with the India operation? And is that something that you kind of look at as — I know those are kind of more long-term relationship kind of things and the right situation occurs as it did with your India operation. But what’s kind of the backdrop, I guess, in that situation? Are there many similarities? Are there other ones that are kind of similar to that situation specifically?
Matt Wolsfeld: I would say that we deal with that more on a case-by-case basis. There’s roughly 10 or 11 European — I’ll say, European joint ventures are in that region and 4 or 5 in Asia. We kind of handle it on a case-by-case basis as far as how transitions occur, what regions makes the most sense for us to potentially acquire an ownership interest, if that’s something that becomes available. We’re not actively going out and looking to buy out partners or push partners out. But if the opportunity comes up and it’s a region that we feel we could effectively control or own more of, then certainly we look at taking over that — we look at taking advantage of that opportunity.
John Bair: Right. Yes, that’s kind of where I was — what I was looking to hear, is whether it’s an active pursuit or whether if the operator ends up saying, “Okay, I’m willing to give up my ownership,” or whatever. So…
Matt Wolsfeld: Well, certainly, the ownership percentage that the other shareholders have, we view as part of the succession planning of the joint ventures what are our opportunities for acquiring that or does it make more sense to look for a different strategic partner that we think could add more value than if NTIC were to just purchase it. And so it’s — our joint ventures, our partnerships that we’ve had for a long period of time where we’ve developed very long trusting relationships with the individuals, and so there’s a lot more to it than just the — what it looks like on a balance sheet or what it looks like from an operating income contribution standpoint. And so we’re certainly aware of that and we certainly appreciate our joint venture partners and we want to work to make sure that we’re doing the right thing and working together that’s going to be in the best interest of all the joint ventures and kind of the entire NTIC federation.
John Bair: Sure. One last question. You did indicate you thought the third and fourth quarter should be stronger with ZERUST and the oil and gas. Do you feel that, that’s as much a function of the higher oil prices that we’re seeing right now? Or is it a combination of that plus a greater adoption of your technology to be used in their infrastructure?
