Italian cable maker plans to invest $4 million more to boost production

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

PT Prysmian Cables Indonesia, a subsidiary of an Italian high-tech cable manufacturer, will invest up to US$4 million to increase the capacity of the company's telecommunication and electric cables at its plant in Cikampek, West Java.

The company's president director, Stefano Poli, said Saturday the additional investment would partly be used to purchase 13 new machines in order to increase the production of optical fiber cables up to 500,000 kilometers from 200,000 kilometers, and the capacity of electric cables to 16,000 tons from 9,000 tons at present.

The new production facility, which is scheduled to begin operation next year, is expected to be able to produce around 3,000 metric tons during the first year, he said.

"Production will be further increased in subsequent years in line with demand," he told reporters at an event celebrating the company's 10th anniversary in Indonesia.

With the expansion, the growth rate of the company's profits could be doubled, he said.

PT Prysmian Cables, a subsidiary of Prysmian Group of Italy which has 54 plants in 35 countries, opened its factory in 1997 to meet the growing demand from Indonesia, other Southeast Asian countries and Australia.

"Indonesia has a very strategic location for our expansion in Asia. By having a plant here, we can save on logistical costs and transportation time to neighboring countries," said Jamel Yusof, Prysmian's industrial director for Asean countries.

Poli said the company currently sold 20 percent of its total product in the domestic market and the remaining 80 percent to other Southeast Asian countries and Australia.

He said the company had a 20 percent share in Indonesia's electric cable market and 15 percent in the telecom cable market, serving some local manufacturers including PT PLN (electrical-state company), PT Telkom, PT Indosat and PT Exelcomindo.

"Although we are currently focusing on global markets, I am very optimistic with the local market as demand is growing," he said. (ind)