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amu (herbal medicine) producer PT Industri Jamu dan Farmasi Sido Muncul plans to double its exports value next year.

Sido Muncul director Venancia Sri Indrijati said Tuesday that her firm was aiming to target an increase to 5 percent of Sido Muncul'€™s total revenues, from the current 2 to 2.5 percent '€” worth around Rp 41.26 billion (US$3.03 million) '€” booked in this year'€™s first nine months.

In the near future, the company plans to boost export share to 10 percent of its total revenues. Venancia, however, refused to detail the time frame. '€œWe want to directly export our products, to achieve the target,'€ she said.

Currently, Sido Muncul'€™s products, especially its herbal medicine variants, reach overseas markets through individual distributors or stores that buy the products in Indonesia and carry it back with them. The company also accepts direct orders and will arrange for overseas delivery to a buyer'€™s store.

Venancia stated that her company would further explore its existing overseas markets rather than looking to enter new markets as Sido Muncul'€™s herbals were already available in many countries and had a loyal consumer base.

Currently, Sido Muncul has a popular following in several countries including Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Saudi Arabia, the United States and Nigeria.

'€œHowever, the process is not as easy as distributing the products there,'€ she said, adding that Sido Muncul would be required to pass several registration and product test procedures before being allowed to export into its targeted countries.

Sido Muncul president director Irwan Hidayat said that herbal products often stumble into strict food and medicine regulations.

'€œWe finally found a way, by categorizing our herbal products as food supplements and not as medicine,'€ he said. Their Tolak Angin herbal product remained the dominate seller for Sido Muncul throughout this year'€™s first nine months.

According to the company'€™s financial report, sales of herbal medicine and supplements contributed
Rp 885.27 billion or 53.64 percent of total company revenues, which stood at Rp 1.65 trillion, followed by food and beverage at Rp 704.83 billion (42.71 percent) and pharmaceutical at Rp 60.21 billion (3.65 percent).

In order to strengthen its herbal and supplement segment, Sido Muncul will launch a new production site in Semarang, Central Java, next year, in anticipation of the higher demands expected within four to five years. The production site, at an investment amounting to around Rp 200 billion, will quadruple the company'€™s current production capacity of 85 million sachets per month.

'€œOur next step is to further develop our herbal product range because we still have hundreds of heritage recipes and the benefits of these products have been tested,'€ said Venancia, expressing hope that modernization of traditional herbal medicine would contribute to her company'€™s growth.

She also announced that Sido Muncul would launch a new herbal variant in January and were expecting to announce at least three new products annually. Sido Muncul to introduce four new products this year, three herbal medicine and supplement variants and an energy drink.

The company booked a 3.53 percent growth year-on-year in this year'€™s sales revenues, while net profits climbed up 3.67 percent to Rp 326.03 billion.

Plans to explore existing overseas markets with a view to further boost revenue through export.