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trong economic growth and a huge population with low per capita biscuit consumption have made Indonesia a potential target market for US-based food producer Kraft Foods.

Kraft Foods Asia-Pacific vice president for marketing Shawn Warren said Indonesia was the firm’s fastest growing market for the biscuit business in 2010 and had become a focus for the food producer’s future development plans.

“Increased income has allowed people in Indonesia to spend more money to buy biscuits and since the consumption rate is still low, we still have ample opportunity to expand our sales,” he told reporters in an exclusive interview Thursday.

Indonesia’s per capita biscuit consumption was still around 3 kilograms per person per year, far below those of in developed countries, such as the US with 78 kilograms and Singapore with 45 kilograms, he said.

To catch up with the growing demand in the Indonesian market, Kraft Foods currently has three manufacturing plants in Cikarang, Karawang and Bandung in West Java, employing more than 3,000 workers.

Warren revealed that the company would continuously invest in Indonesia, not only to expand production capacity, but also develop the quality and capability of the company’s human resources in the country. However, he declined to elaborate on any detailed explanation of the company’s investment plans.

In developing its business in Indonesia, Kraft Foods is focused on what consumers wanted from their products, he said. One example of its success story in understanding the Indonesian market was the launching of a softcake known locally as the bolu cake.

“We make products that people in Indonesia prefer to consume, like the bolu cake. We make bolu for Biskuat, Oreo and Kraft Cheese Cake brands,” said Warren, who has worked for the company for 17 years.

Bolu cake was evidence that the company understood Indonesia’s market demand, he said. The cake sells at Rp 1,000 (11 US cents) and is exclusively produced for the Indonesian market.

Affordability was the key word for the company’s success in penetrating the country’s food industry, Warren explained. He took the example of the Biskuat biscuit, of which the smallest package is sold for only Rp 500.

To ensure that Kraft Foods’s products reached all areas of the country, the company had cooperated with 80 distributor companies, Kraft Foods Indonesia corporate affairs head Devy A. Yheanne said.

“We help them develop their businesses. We give them incentives if they exceed sales targets,” she said, adding that Kraft also accomodated all their inputs on constraints in sales for future planning.

She continued that her company had built strong relations with distributors accross the country and tried to make its brands more visible in stores.

To closely engage consumers, the company utilized social media channels such as Facebook and Twitter, Warren said.

“We look at conversations about the quality of our products. We do this to ensure that we’re getting smarter in understanding consumers’ needs,” he emphasized.

Kraft Foods is the second largest food company in the world with annual revenues of $42 billion. The company’s products are sold in 150 countries across the globe. The company has about 98,000 employees globally.