Coca Cola Realized Half of its Investment Commitments in Indonesia
Worldwide famous brand Coca Cola strengthened its presence in Indonesia by opening a USD $30 million production line in Bekasi (West Java). The new production line is owned by Coca Cola Bottling Indonesia, the local unit of Coca-Cola Amatil (CCA). The latter is the largest bottler and distributor of ready-to-drink beverages in the Asia-Pacific region, and one of the largest bottlers of The Coca Cola Company. CCA operates in Australia (where its headquarters are based), New Zealand, Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, Fiji and Samoa.
The new production line of Coca Cola Bottling Indonesia in Bekasi involves the production of lighter and more durable glass-coated plastic bottles. It can produce 27,000 bottles (250 ml-sized bottles) per hour. When combined with the company's other four production lines at the Bekasi plant, then full production capacity has now reached 188,000 bottles per hour. The five production lines include carbonated soft drinks, sports and energy drinks, fruit juices, flavored milk, ice tea, and coffee & tea.
The new production line is part of CCA's total USD $500 million worth of investment commitments in Indonesia in the 2015-2019 period. It has now realized about half of its investment commitments.
Kadir Gunduz, President Director of Coca-Cola Amatil Indonesia (the sister company of Coca Cola Bottling Indonesia), said the expansion of production lines of Coca Cola in Indonesia shows the company's commitment to grow its presence in Indonesia, while continuing to innovate their activities. This should also lead to a strengthening of the Indonesian economy. Indonesia, equipped with a big population and rapidly expanding middle class, is an important market with a lot of growth opportunities. The nation's middle class population may double to 141 million by 2020.
Coca Cola, through its local units, has eight plants and two packaging facilities in Indonesia, Southeast Asia's largest economy. The company also controls more than 200 sales and distribution centers across the archipelago (with four mega distribution centers in Medan, Cibitung, Semarang, and Pasuruan), employing more than 11,000 people, and distributing beverages to 765,000 outlets.
Only about a month ago, in March 2017, Coca-Cola Amatil Indonesia opened another production and distribution center, with an investment value of USS $42 million, in Pasuruan (East Java). This center has a 40 million bottles storage facility and a pre-form manufacturing facility that is able to produce 1 billion plastic bottles per year. The packaging facility can process 130,000 preforms per hour.
With a market share of 84 percent, Indonesia's soft drink industry is actually dominated by packaged drinking water products.