Indonesian companies including Indofood Sukses Makmur and Multistrada Arah Sarana are considering investing in Kazakhstan as an entry point to the Central Asian market, an Indonesian government official says.

Rizal Affandi Lukman, deputy minister for economic and international financing cooperation, told the Jakarta Globe on Thursday that Indofood, the world’s largest instant noodle maker, and tire manufacturer Multistrada are considering opening production facilities in Kazakhstan. Rizal was speaking at the Astana Economic Forum.

He said Indofood was conducting a feasibility study into the Kazakhstan market. Werianty Setiawan, a director at Indofood, confirmed the plans in an e-mail.

Indofood has been strategically positioning itself in the global supply chain over the past year with share acquisitions in companies based in countries including China and Brazil. Rizal said Multistrada was “studying the technical aspect … what kind of machine to use, the specification of the tires and such.” He added that Kazakhstan’s extremely cold winters may require particular product specifications and machinery requirements.

Rizal said Multistrada and the Indonesian government were in discussions with Samruk-Kazyna Invest, a Kazakh state-owned investment body, for a possible tire plant. He said Multistrada could form a joint venture with a state-owned company in Kazakhstan to invest a total of $250 million in the project.

“Its not only about the investment size, but we are also going to use Indonesian engineering and technology as well as our professionals,” he added.

The potential tire plant is expected also to absorb rubber sales from Indonesia into Kazakhstan.

Rizal said the tire plant would operate as a production hub for the Eurasian Economic Community, which includes Russia and Belarus and could create access to the European market.

Rizal said Kazakhstan president Nursultan Nazarbayev, on a visit last year to Indonesia, invited Indonesian crude palm oil producers to not only export CPO to Kazakhstan but also to open a refinery capable of producing derivative products for use in beauty products or food.

On Nazarbayev’s visit to Indonesia in April 2012, the countries formed a joint economic commission aimed to increase trade and investment between the two.

Rizal said combined trade between Indonesia and Kazakhstan last year — although still small — had almost doubled to about $64 million.

Kazakhstan Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Kairat Sarybay said in a panel discussion at the forum that “Kazakhstan is regarding Indonesia as a priority in Southeast Asia to which we gain access to Asean [Association of Southeast Asian Nations] nations], as well as APEC [Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation].”

Kairat Karmanov, deputy chairman at Kazakhstan’s investment and trade agency KazNex Invest, said interest from Indonesia was visible at the previous forum, where two cabinet ministers from Indonesia led a large delegation to the Central Asian nation.


Sumber: http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/business/indofood-and-multistrada-scouting-for-plants-in-kazakhstan-official-says/