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ublicly listed pharmaceutical company PT Kalbe Farma will construct two milk plants in West Java to double its milk production.

One of the plants will produce liquid milk and will be built in the fourth quarter of this year on 8 hectares of land in Sukabumi, West Java.

The company would spend around Rp 150 billion (US$14.55 million) on the first plant using its internal funds, Kalbe Farma finance director and corporate secretary Vidjongtius said on Thursday.

However, he could not provide data on the plant'€™s production capacity.

The second plant will produce powdered milk to double its current production capacity to 25,000 tons of powdered milk per year.

Kalbe will build the second factory in the beginning of next year in Cikampek, Karawang, West Java, with investment between Rp 200-300 billion, said Vidjongtius.

Construction works for both plants will be completed within a one-year period.

'€œA milk factory [is the kind of factory that] can start operating immediately [because it doesn'€™t need certification],'€ Vidjongtius said.

Kalbe Farma produces more than 800 products from four different product categories comprising nutrition, counter drugs, milk and prescription drugs.

Some of its products are Extra Joss energy drink, Hydro Coco coconut drink, Diabetasol diabetic milk, Prenagen milk for pregnant women and Milna baby food.

Vidjongtius said all four types of products contributed fairly to the company'€™s revenues, around 24-25 percent each. Kalbe started to export some of its products to some Southeast Asian countries earlier this year, said Vidjongtius. In June, Kalbe began exporting Diabetasol '€” milk for diabetic patients '€” and Zee '€” milk for teenagers '€” to Myanmar, he said.

The company is also exporting Extra Joss, Diabetasol and Hydro Coco to the Philippines.

But its revenues from overseas sales '€œwould not contribute much'€ to the company'€™s income just yet.

'€œUsually it takes three years to know whether or not our products would survive [in an overseas market],'€ he said, adding that Kalbe was studying the possibility of entering the Vietnamese market.

Kalbe is aiming for an 18-percent growth this year from a year before, both in revenues and profits.

In 2012, Kalbe enjoyed Rp 13.6 trillion in revenue. '€œWe expect [to get] Rp 16 trillion in revenues this year,'€ said Vidjongtius.

Commenting on the weakening rupiah, he said that Kalbe would not need to increase the prices of its products, although 90 to 95 percent of its ingredients were imported, because it had secured stocks of raw ingredients as well as cash in US dollars that would be enough for the next three to four months.

'€œWe already increased [our] prices earlier this year by around 2-3 percent, which would be enough for one year,'€ he said.

Shares in Kalbe (KLBF) closed at Rp 1,360 apiece on Friday, drop by 2.86 percent from the previous closing. (nai)