Industry Minister Urges Dairy Processor to Develop Indonesian-Style Cheese
Bogor, West Java (ANTARA) — Industry Minister Muhammad Sarmuji has urged national dairy processor Cimory to develop cheese with distinctive Indonesian flavours, as well as other derivative products, to expand the market and increase the added value of domestic dairy products.
“We are visiting the Cimory factory today. We initially knew Cimory as a yoghurt producer, but it has since expanded through product diversification. Today, we challenged Cimory to produce more dairy products, such as ice cream and Indonesian-style cheese,” the minister said during a working visit to PT Cisarua Mountain Dairy Tbk (Cimory) in Bogor, West Java, on Thursday.
Sarmuji said cheese developed to suit Indonesian consumers’ preferences had considerable market potential. The innovation is expected to broaden the range of processed dairy products and strengthen the competitiveness of the national industry.
He challenged Cimory to bring the new products to market within the next year. The move is expected to diversify the dairy-processing industry and help it capture domestic market opportunities.
Alongside product diversification, Sarmuji highlighted the importance of increasing utilisation across the national industry, which still has room to grow. He said making better use of existing production capacity could increase manufacturing’s contribution to the national economy.
“If we can maximise industrial utilisation to 80–85 per cent using existing capacity, the industrial sector’s contribution to gross domestic product (GDP) can certainly increase significantly,” he said.
However, higher utilisation requires sufficient supplies of raw materials at competitive prices. The Ministry of Industry is therefore committed to maintaining reliable supplies, including by easing imports for production needs that cannot yet be met domestically.
“If raw materials are disrupted, unavailable in sufficient quantities or not competitively priced, industrial utilisation will be low. We will ensure that industry’s raw-material needs are adequately met. We will provide import relief or flexibility when imports are for raw materials,” he said.
Sarmuji also stressed the need to strengthen upstream industry through cooperation between ministries, with the aim of increasing domestic fresh-milk production and reducing reliance on imports.
He said development of dairy processing must be matched by growth in the dairy-cow population, higher productivity among farmers and better quality domestic fresh milk.
According to Ministry of Industry data, the domestic dairy-processing industry will require about 4.95 million tonnes of fresh-milk equivalent in 2025. Around 80 per cent of that demand is still met through imports.
To address the issue, the ministry is strengthening partnerships between dairy processors, cooperatives and local farmers.
The support includes refrigeration technology, digitalisation of milk collection centres, and programmes to restructure industrial machinery and equipment.
By 2026, digitalisation had been introduced at 96 milk collection centres operated by nine cooperatives in West and East Java, involving more than 12,000 dairy farmers.
Sarmuji also praised Cimory for buying fresh milk from local farmers. In 2025, the company partnered with 18,458 dairy farmers and purchased around 26.42 million litres of domestic fresh milk.
PT Cisarua Mountain Dairy Tbk Manufacturing Director Pamungkas Bayu Triprasetyo welcomed the minister’s challenge to broaden the range of processed dairy products.
He said innovation was an important part of Cimory’s business development strategy. The company will assess opportunities to produce a range of dairy products with potential in the Indonesian market.
“We will not focus solely on liquid milk, but will also consider other dairy products that could be developed in Indonesia,” Pamungkas said.
On the use of local raw materials, Pamungkas said that around 20–30 per cent of Cimory’s milk raw-material requirements are currently met with fresh milk supplied by farmers in West and East Java.