Sanyo, Hino may invest $100m early in 2010 for expansion

Mustaqim Adamrah, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Tue, 11/03/2009 9:24 AM

Early next year the country may see two separate investments worth US$100 million in total from two Japanese companies, Hino and Sanyo, Industry Minister M.S. Hidayat said Monday.

“At the beginning of next January, I will inaugurate new investment in two industrial sectors, electronics and trucks, both from Japan,” he said at the State Palace after reporting the results of the 2009 National Summit held last week.

“The two investments will together total $100 million.”

He said the two companies have agreed to invest in market expansion because of the largely “conducive” business climate here.

Hidayat added he would go to Japan early next year as part of the investment planning process.

These statements confirm previous reports saying that PT Hino Indonesia Manufacturing plans to spend $17 million in investment to triple its truck production capacity from 10,000 units to 30,000 units per year by expanding its existing factory in Purwakarta, West Java.

“This investment will materialize as soon as this year’s end, if not in 2010,” the Industry Ministry’s director for land and military transportation industries Panggah Susanto said previously.

He said Hino planned initially to realize its plan in 2008 but had to delay it because of the negative impacts of the global economic downturn, which previously held back the real sector.

“They delayed their investment implementation until now because they wanted to see out the crisis situation first,” he said.

Panggah said the government would push Hino, which would expand not only its truck production but also the production of its supporting components, to use more local content components.

Hino produces dump trucks and head trucks, among other types.

Established in 1982, Hino is controlled by its parent company Hino Motors ltd with 40 percent, local automaker and distributor of imported cars PT Indomobil Sukses International with 40 percent and Sumitomo Corporation with 20 percent.

There are no details as yet as to Sanyo’s planned investment.

In September, a large delegation of Japanese investors came to Indonesia to meet then industry minister Fahmi Idris.

During the meeting, the delegation said Japanese investors who already have established in Indonesia planned to boost their investment by up to $1 billion here over the next five years to strengthen their market positioning in the country.

According to latest Indonesian government record, there are 875 Japanese companies currently operating in Indonesia, with a total investment of $11 billion, employing more than 282,000 workers.