Friesland Foods expands Indonesian ingredients business
ingredients operations in Indonesia through the acquisition of a
number of assets from a local rival - a move that will allow the
group to grow its business there at a fraction of the current cost,
reports Chris Jones.
Friesland Foods' local subsidiary Kievit will acquire certain land, buildings and equipment from local dairy producer Tirta Amerta Agung, allowing it to establish a new production base in Indonesia, in Salatiga on Central Java.
The company first began producing spray dried ingredients in Jakarta, Indonesia, back in 2003, setting up a local subsidiary to manage the growing business there in October 2004.
The new Kievit site will produce a number of basic ingredients for the food industry, such as creamers, and said that the decision to expand local production plant was a simple one.
"The expensive euro makes export from the Netherlands difficult and establishing a local presence enables a quicker and better response to the rapid developments and wishes of clients in South-East Asia," the company said in a statement.
The first step will be to modernise the former Tirta Amerta Agung production plant, with the result that the first products made there are unlikely to hit the shelves until the end of 2005. Kievit said the new production facility would lead to the creation on more than 100 jobs.Kievit, which posted sales of €153 million last year, develops, produces and markets powdered ingredients for use in the food industry.
