Although the FIFA World Cup in South Africa is six months away, football afficionados can find Cup merchandise as several products are currently up for grabs at Indomaret chain stores.

Pictures of the tournament official mascot Zakumi, an anthropomorphized leopard with green hair, has begun appearing on mugs, T-shirts, piggy banks and drinking bottles, and are sold on store racks.

Nenny Kristyawati, the spokeswoman of Indomaret, however, said that not all merchandise would be  immediately available.

“We plan to sell 300 kinds of merchandise, but most is being manufactured overseas.

“We hope by mid-January that merchandise will be available in stores,” she said.    

Among World Cup souvenirs not available yet include hats, pins, pens and Zakumi puppets.

“Many collectors have asked for information regarding merchandise,” she added.     

According to Indomaret management, 70 percent of merchandise is made overseas, while the rest is made in Indonesia.

Nenny said that the cheapest kind of merchandise are piggy banks, selling for Rp 10,000 (US$1) each, while the most expensive are replicas of the World Cup trophy, selling for Rp 2 million each.

Indomaret management expected to see merchandise sales reaching Rp 1 billion by July this year.

Ari, a football fan, said he planned to collect a World Cup T-shirt, selling for Rp 100,000 each.

“The World Cup is like a world party and I want to keep memorabilia of the event,” he said.

Billions of viewers are expected to tune in to the event’s 64 games.

Another soccer fan, Dio, a resident of Kalibata, South Jakarta, said he had just bought a mug at a nearby Indomaret store.

“I also plan to buy a T-shirt, but the T-shirts available are too small for my size,” he said.

“I want a bigger one, but I was told my size was not available,” he said.  

“I also plan to buy the mascot,” he added.

The 2010 FIFA World Cup will take place in South Africa, and will run from June 11 until July 11.

Figures of characters from Looney Tunes are also sold as World Cup merchandise for Rp 10,000 each, while the official soccer balls are tagged at Rp 148,000 each.

A World Cup mug, for example, is priced at Rp 14,000 each, while another mug at a similar size sells for Rp 6,900 each.

Reportedly, an apparent lack of promotion has left some soccer fans unaware about the merchandise at stores.

“I did not know this before.

“I will check the items later. I thought many fake merchandise would be sold before the tournament, but the original ones usually are better quality,” said Andreas, a football fan who loves to collect soccer merchandise.   

“All official merchandise sold here arrived last night,” said Kurnia, a store employee in Rawa Belong, West Jakarta.

“None has been purchased so far.”

Yadu, an employee of another store in the vicinity of the Jakarta Police, also in South Jakarta, said that only three Looney Tunes figures had been sold in his store since the end of December.

Another football fan, Iqbal, however, was not as enthusiastic about the World Cup merchandise and preferred not to jump onto the bandwagon.

“The prices are too expensive.

“I won’t bother to buy anything,” Iqbal said.

Indomaret has won the right to operate the FIFA World Cup 2010 Official Event stores in all 4,000 of its retail outlets across Indonesia.

About 43 percent of its stores are located in Greater Jakarta.

It will pay a 4-5 percent royalty fee for every licensed World Cup product sold. (mrs)

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