Two Japanese firms ready to relocate plants to Indonesia

Antara News, Tue, November 1 2011

Jakarta (ANTARA News) - Two Japanese companies are ready to relocate their plants from Thailand to Indonesia because of protracted flooding in the former, an official said.

"Because of the floods we have received a request from Japanese automotive and electronic manufacturers to relocate their plants from Thailand to Indonesia," the deputy for industry and trade to the coordinating minister for economic affairs, Edy Putra Irawady said here on Tuesday.

Edy said at least four companies, three of them from Japan and one from Europe, intended to relocate their plants to Indonesia.

The companies were automotive and electronic manufacturers which were currently operating in Thailand, he said.

"Two of the four companies are really new investors, while two others intend to relocate their plants and they are Japanese companies," he said.

But the companies had yet to file a formal request to the Indonesian government, he said.

"They phoned us to ask what incentives the Indonesian government can give to them if they relocate their plants here. For instance, will they receive tax holiday or not?," he said.

But Edy stopped short of revealing the names of the Japanese companies.

Asked whether they were large-scale automotive and electronic manufacturers such as Honda and Nissan, he said they were in the same class as the two Japanese companies.

He said two automotive companies which intended to expand their investment in Indonesia were Toyota and Mercedes Benz. Toyota planned to raise its investment by Rp7 trillion next year.

"They will make Indonesia their production base for their exports," he said.

Editor: Suryanto