P

ublicly listed PT Indopoly Swakarsa Industry Tbk., one of the country’s leading flexible packaging film producers, started the operation of three new production lines — one biaxially-oriented polyester (BOPET) film line and two metalizing lines — on Monday at its Purwakarta, West Java, plant.

Indopoly president director Henry Halim said Monday that the new production lines, which required US$50 million in investments, was expected to strengthen the company’s leadership in the flexible packaging film market as demand for the products surged.

“This expansion will enhance our production capacity and diversify our products in the high-end segment,” Henry said during the commissioning ceremony of the lines.

Henry said the additional polyester film line with a production capacity of 20,000 tons per year would push up its total annual packaging film production capacity from 80,000 tons from three plants in Indonesia and China to 100,000 tons.

Meanwhile, the two metalizing lines would produce a total of 14,000 tons of metalizing film, enhancing the added value to its polyester and biaxially oriented polypropylene (BOPP) film production lines in making high barrier metalized film, he said.

Through the expansion, Henry said, his firm aimed to generate an additional $70 million in annual sales, raising total sales revenue from $210 million per annum to $280 million.

“The allocation for export and the domestic market will remain the same,” he said, citing 40 percent of total output for exports and 60 percent for the domestic market.

Currently, the firm sells its polyester film mainly to Latin America and the US while selling polypropylene film to the Philippines, the US and European countries.

Indopoly, an affiliated company of Salim Group, is currently 41 percent owned by Jefflyne Golden Holdings Pte Ltd., 36 percent by public share holders, 23 percent by Noble Ox International Ltd., and 0.1 percent by PT Inti Pincuran Mas Nugraha.

During the first quarter of this year, Indopoly booked Rp 411 billion in revenue.

The firm currently operates five production lines at three plants in Purwakarta and one plant each in Suzhou and Kunming, China.

It serves about 150 customers worldwide, including tobacco company Philip Morris International.

Polyester film is a flexible high gas barrier film, while polypropylene is a flexible high moisture barrier film — both are the main materials to make packaging film for consumer goods such as instant noodles, milk, cigarettes and detergent.

Industry Minister M.S. Hidayat, who officiated the new lines, said the downstream plastic industry, including packaging, was a prospective industry both at home and abroad.

He said plastic consumption in Indonesia reached 10 kilograms per capita per year while Malaysia had reached 56 kilograms, Singapore 93 kg and Thailand 45 kg.

“National economic growth will drive plastic consumption,” he said.

Hidayat said currently there were 892 plastic packaging firms in Indonesia producing rigid packaging and flexible packaging, among others, with a total capacity of 2.35 million tons per year and a utilization rate of 70 percent.