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ire maker PT Multistrada Arah Sarana (MASA) is looking to boost its domestic market share in the next two to three years by increasing its production capacity in Southeast Asia'€™s major automotive manufacturing base.

Multistrada'€™s president director, Pieter Tanuri, said the company aimed to increase its market share by 2 percentage points by 2016 or 2017.

'€œCurrently, the company'€™s market share in Indonesia is around 13 percent. We aim to increase market share to 15 percent in the next two or three years,'€ he said on Monday evening.

To achieve the target, the company is working to boost its production capacity.

Multistrada currently produces 10 million tires for cars and 6 million tires for motorcycles, under brands that include Achilles, Corsa and Strada.

'€œNext year, the company intends to increase its overall production capacity to around 17 to 18 million tires per year,'€ Pieter said.

The company has so far this year absorbed around 70 percent of its total allocated capital expenditure of US$40 million amid the output expansion plans.

'€œThe company used the funds to reduce bottlenecks [in the factory]. We are trying to balance production capacity in every section of the factory ['€¦] so that overall capacity can increase,'€ he said.

Multristrada, according to Pieter, had also purchased necessary machinery to support the balancing efforts and expansion plans.

The company plans to sell 8.4 million car tires this year, and expects to boost sales by around 20 percent to 10 million car tires next year. Sales of motorcycle tires are expected to top 4 million this year.

Multistrada also planned, according to Pieter, to add to the number of its tire outlets in Indonesia to cater to the increased tire production. It currently has 170 outlets, and plans to have a total 200 stores by year-end.

He added that one of the main obstacles that had affected the company'€™s sales performance this year was the fall in price of several commodities, including palm oil and rubber, which had dented people'€™s purchasing power outside Java.

'€œThis situation affected around 5 to 10 percent of the company'€™s sales performance,'€ he added.

Multristada'€™s net sales fell 15 percent in the first quarter of this year to $73.61 million, down from $86.65 million posted in the same period last year.

Exports remained the top contributor to the company'€™s sales, making up 69 percent of overall net sales, while the remaining 31 percent was derived from sales in the domestic market.

In the export market, its sales fell by 16 percent in the first three months of this year to $50.5 million compared with $60 million during the same period in 2013.

A drop also occurred in the firm'€™s domestic sales, as Multistrada booked a 13 percent loss in net sales in the first quarter of this year of $23 million compared to net sales of $26.5 million during the same period last year.

According to kontan.co.id, Multistrada was planning to book a 5 percent in net sales this year to $340 billion this year, up from $324 million last year.

Shares in Multistrada were trading at Rp 310 at Tuesday'€™s close, down 0.64 percent from the previous day. The shares have lost almost 14 percent in value this year, under performing the broader Jakarta Composite Index'€™s (JCI) 17.6 percent gain. (ask)