Ambitious Indofood bulking up to feed growing middle class
INDONESIA'S food giant Indofood is now building more production lines for flexible packaging, milk, ice cream, instant noodle and flour, as well as greater processing capacity for palm oil.
Buoyant expectations are encouraging Indonesian food giant Indofood to think big.
Despite sluggish economic growth in the country, publicly listed food giant PT Indofood Sukses Makmur plans to increase production and the processing capacity of its various businesses.
The firm is now building more production lines for flexible packaging, milk, ice cream, instant noodle and flour, as well as greater processing capacity for palm oil, said Indofood head of investor relations Werianty Setiawan.
The expansion will be funded from the firm's allocated capital expenditure of 9.1 trillion rupiah (S$927.3 million) this year.
The company will continue to push sales and export in the region, especially Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam, said Indofood director Franciscus Welirang.
The market potential in Asean is huge due to the emerging middle class, compared with developed countries outside the region.
"Indofood will export to new and emerging markets. We do sell in developed countries too, but we push more to the developing ones," he told reporters.
Indofood's exports contribute to more than 8 per cent of the company's revenue and it aims to increase the proportion to 9 to 10 per cent. Besides Asean, it has franchise operations in Africa and eastern Europe.
Indofood, which has been producing the popular Indomie noodles since 1969, started exporting in 1992. It is one of the largest consumer product companies in Asia and the biggest producer of instant ramen noodles in the world.
