“As a boxer I sometimes get kabuhi. Sorry, sorry, kabuhi in Indonesia is masuk angin [a cold]. First, I took Tolak Angin Sido Muncul when I get masuk angin in America,” says popular Filipino boxer Manny “Pacman” Pacquiao in a script for a Tolak Angin herbal drink ad.

The ad is just a baby step in the expansion plans of Sido Muncul, Indonesia’s largest herbal drinks producer, to export from its existing markets in the US, Russia, South Korea, Algeria, Nigeria, Saudi Arabia, Mongolia, Hong Kong, Singapore and Malaysia, among others.

Not many countries are familiar with kabuhi or masuk angin, but the Philippines and other ASEAN markets that share the same culture as Indonesia: taking herbal drinks such as Tolak Angin to cure the minor ailment. Meanwhile, African markets prefer energy drinks like Kuku Bima Ener-G, also produced by Sido Muncul.

Publicly listed Sido Muncul plans for its exports to account for 5 percent of its sales by the middle of next year from around 2 percent at present, creating a new export division to support the goal and preparing its first sales representative office in the Philippines.

“All this time, we don’t directly export abroad. Importers from about 15 countries come to us to sell it abroad. But this year, we want to start exporting directly,” said Sido Muncul president director Irwan Hidayat, whose grandfather, Rahkmat Sulistio, founded the company in 1940 with three employees as a family business.

To support its expansion plans, Sido Muncul, which now employs 3,500 workers, plans to operate a new Rp 250 billion (US$19.25 million) factory next year in Semarang, Central Java, which will produce 100 million sachets of the drink every month. The company currently operates another factory, also in Semarang, with the same production capacity running at 80 percent of its capacity.

“To stay ahead of the competition, an old firm should always innovate with new products, new packaging and so on, and thus we have decided to open another factory,” Irwan said in his presentation for the annual 2016 Investor Day at the Indonesia Stock Exchange on Tuesday.

Sido Muncul booked Rp 1.2 trillion in sales in the January-June period this year, up 13.7 percent from the same period a year ago. Herbal and supplement products such as Tolak Angin accounted for 57 percent of the company’s sales. Food and beverage products like KukuBima Ener-G accounted for 40 percent and pharmacies accounted for the rest.

Net profits grew 7.7 percent to Rp 265 billion in the first half year-on-year, versus the company’s target for 20 percent bottom line growth throughout the year.

In the local market, Sido Muncul has tried to launch new products to engage with the public such as herbal sachet drinks to prevent sore joints and sariawan (ulcers) and to increase vitality.

Corporate secretary Tiur Simamora said antifever and sore-joint herbal drinks would be available for the first time in bottle packaging next month.

The firm, whose sales are 80 percent focused around the western part of Indonesia, has 115 non-exclusive distributors nationwide and supplies raw material from farmers directly from around the archipelago to cut costs.

Shares in Sido Muncul, which had market capitalization of Rp 8.7 trillion as of Tuesday, traded at Rp 580 during the day, having risen 10.7 percent so far this year. The benchmark Jakarta Composite Index (JCI) has gained 17 percent this year.

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