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uto components and home appliance maker PT Robert Bosch, the local subsidiary of German multinational company Robert Bosch GmbH, expects lower sales growth this year as a result of the economic slowdown, despite the still lucrative potential of the Indonesian market.

Managing director Ralf von Baer said the volatile nature of the country'€™s economy had made it very difficult for the company to predict its growth this year. '€œAt the moment it looks like lower double-digit [growth] compared to last year,'€ Baer told reporters on Wednesday in Jakarta. Because Indonesia'€™s economy was up and down, he said, it was more difficult to make a business prediction than in other parts of the world.

Last year, the company saw an increase of around 60 percent in its sales growth to Rp 1.6 trillion (US$120.29 million) from Rp 998 billion in 2013. Last year'€™s 60 percent growth was supported by the opening of its new home appliance business unit and its internal restructuring, the company said.

Even though the company had a large potential customer base here, Baer explained that it was not easy to enter given the deep economic swings of the domestic market.

Despite the volatile condition, Baer said the company still aimed to expand its business in Indonesia this year as it still saw many opportunities. '€œWe see an opportunity to expand our existing manufacturing plant in Bekasi [east of Jakarta] this year,'€ Baer said.

Bosch'€™s manufacturing plant in Bekasi produces fuel injectors for several Japanese automotive manufacturers. Besides expanding its existing plant, the company also plans to add more network offices to reach more customers in Indonesia.

'€œThis year we have invested in new offices in Sumatra and Bali and we plan to add more in the future,'€ Baer added

The company currently has seven network offices in South Sumatra, Jakarta, Semarang, Surabaya, Denpasar, Balikpapan and Makassar.

Meanwhile, apart from Bosch Indonesia, Bosch Group, which produces automotive equipment, mining tools, home appliances and food packaging, expects sales growth of between 3 percent and 5 percent globally.

According to the company'€™s report made available on Wednesday, it expects such growth as it sees better economic growth in Europe and because global vehicle production shows promising growth having grown by 3 percent to around 90.4 million vehicles last year.

In 2014, Bosch Group achieved global sales of 6.3 percent, up to ¤49 billion ($55 billion) from ¤46.1 billion in 2013. Meanwhile, it posted ¤3 billion of earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) last year. (ind)