Bayer sees more promising business in Indonesia<\/p>\n
By Christiani Tumelap<\/p>\n
SINGAPORE (JP): Germany's diversified chemical and health care
\nmanufacturer Bayer Group expects business to improve in Indonesia
\nfollowing its recent expansion into the polyurethane industry.<\/p>\n
Bayer Group has just taken over a factory producing
\npolyurethane raw material called polyol in Anyer, West Java,
\nowned by the U.S.-based Lyondell Chemical Company as part of the
\ngroup's US$2.45 billion global acquisition of Lyondell's polyol
\nbusiness line.<\/p>\n
Wolfgang Piroth, president of Bayer Group's three joint
\nventures in Indonesia, said the new polyurethane business here
\nwas expected to contribute at least 30 percent of the group's
\ntotal sales in Indonesia this year.<\/p>\n
\"Polyurethane is a new dynamic business,\" he told The Jakarta
\nPost at the group's recent regional meeting.<\/p>\n
Piroth said the group's Indonesian units recorded total sales
\nof about US$170 million last year, lower than the average $230
\nmillion it obtained in the pre-crisis period.<\/p>\n
\"This year, hopefully, we'll be able to return to the pre-
\ncrisis level of performance with help from our newly set up
\npolyurethane raw material business,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Bayer Group currently has three joint venture companies in
\nIndonesia, namely PT Bayer Indonesia Tbk, PT Bayer Kimia
\nFarmasindo and the newly formed PT Bayer Urethanes Indonesia.<\/p>\n
Founded in Germany in 1863, Bayer Group has production
\nfacilities at 19 locations around the world.<\/p>\n
It currently markets more than 10,000 product items worldwide,
\nranging from pharmaceuticals and diagnostic systems through to
\ncrop protection agents, plastics, synthetic rubber, rubber
\nchemicals, fibers, dyes, pigments, organic and inorganic
\nintermediates as well as products for information technology.<\/p>\n
In Indonesia, the group has two pharmaceutical and consumer
\ncare factories located in Jakarta, both managed by Bayer
\nIndonesia Tbk, and the newly acquired polyol plant in Anyer, West
\nJava, managed by Bayer Urethanes Indonesia.<\/p>\n
Bayer Kimia Farmasindo operates solely as an importer of
\nchemicals and diagnostics raw materials for local chemical
\nmanufacturers.<\/p>\n
Bayer Indonesia Tbk, which booked a total sales of Rp 689.5
\nbillion last year, produces its pharmaceutical and over-the-
\ncounter medicines in its factory in Cibubur, East Jakarta.<\/p>\n
The plant produced some 185 million tablets, 5.29 million
\nliquid bottles and 6 million ointment tubes last year.<\/p>\n
The company's Pulogadung plant produces consumer care, except
\nfor those sold over the counter, and crop protection products. It
\nproduced 50,488 tons of consumer care products and 5,633 tons of
\ncrop protection products last year.<\/p>\n
The Bayer Urethanes Indonesia plant in Anyer, which is worth
\nat least $26 million, currently produces 32,000 tons of polyol
\nper year.<\/p>\n
Polyol is the raw material used in the production of
\npolyurethanes, a group of foams with a wide variety of
\napplications -- chiefly in the electronics industry, in heat and
\ncold insulation, construction of technical parts, the furniture
\nindustry and in the fields of sports and leisure.<\/p>\n
In addition to the Anyer plant, Bayer also took over the
\nLyondell Asia polyol production site in Kaohsiung, Taiwan, which
\nhas an annual production capacity of over 40,000 tons.<\/p>\n
In addition, Bayer took over Lyondell's two polyol plants in
\nthe United States as well as one each in Belgium and France. All
\nthe plants together with the two factories in Asia have an annual
\ncapacity of some 700,000 tons of polyol.<\/p>\n
Bayer AG's general manager for the polyurethane business
\ngroup, Hans-Joachim Kaiser, said at the regional meeting that
\nalthough Bayer's strength was in isocyanate chemistry, the
\ncompany had never had sufficient capacity to supply the two main
\ncomponents of polyurethane, polyols and isocyanates.<\/p>\n
The acquisition of Lyondell earlier this year has definitely
\nchanged that situation, he said.<\/p>\n
\"We are now in a position to supply customers with the full
\nrange of products, technologies and services they need for the
\nproduction of polyurethane,\" he said.<\/p>\n
He said Bayer's polyurethanes business increased its sales
\nlast year by almost five percent to 2.17 billion euros.<\/p>\n
The acquisition will help increase the group's polyurethane
\nbusiness' sales to three billion euros.<\/p>\n
Kaiser said Bayer Group planned to significantly strengthen
\nits position in the Asian polyurethane raw material market
\nfollowing its acquisition of the two polyol plants in Indonesia
\nand Taiwan.<\/p>\n
\"We hope to increase our share in Asia's polyurethane raw
\nmaterial market to 25 percent in 2004 at the latest, from 10
\npercent at present,\" he said.<\/p>\n
He said, as part of Bayer Group's plan to strengthen its
\npolyurethane raw material business in Asia, it would build
\nseveral new production facilities in the region.<\/p>\n
He said the group expected to finalize one or two new projects
\nthis year so that the new plants, which would likely have an
\nannual capacity in the range of 150,000 to 230,000 metric tons,
\ncould start production in 2004.<\/p>\n
\"We also have plans to increase the production capacity of the
\nAnyer polyol plant by around 50 percent,\" Kaiser said, but he did
\nnot give a time frame for this.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/bayer-sees-more-promising-business-in-indonesia-1447893297",
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