New joint venture to produce color picture tubes
New joint venture to produce color picture tubes
JAKARTA (JP): PT Tabung Gambar Indonesia yesterday clinched a
deal with Toshiba Corp, Sumitomo Corp, both of Japan, and Orion
Electric Co. Ltd. of South Korea for setting up a new joint
venture to produce color television picture tubes in Bekasi, West
Java.
The new venture, named PT Tosummit Electronics Devices
Indonesia, will be 35 percent owned by Tabung Gambar Indonesia,
28 percent by Toshiba, 22 percent by Sumitomo and 15 percent by
Orion Electric.
"All parties have agreed to invest a total of US$140 million
in the venture, of which some $40 million will be capitalized
through the company's own equity," Hideharu Egawa, Toshiba's
visiting executive vice president told reporters after the
ceremony yesterday.
The remaining $100 million of the investment will be financed
by loans from a foreign bank syndicate, he added.
Yesterday's ceremony was witnessed by Minister of Industry
Tunky Ariwibowo, Minister of Investment/Chairman of Investment
Coordinating Board Sanyoto Sastrowardoyo and executives of the
Japanese and Korean corporations.
Located at a 11.3-hectare land in an industrial park in
Bekasi, the new plant will be designed to have an output capacity
of 2.3 million television tubes per year, of which around 30
percent will be shipped to Toshiba's television manufacturing
operations in Singapore.
The plant is expected to be operational by the middle of next
year.
"We plan to produce over five million tubes per annum after
three years of operating in the country," PT Tosummit Electronics
Devices commissioner Rachmat Gobel, who is also a commissioner of
the major electronic company, Gobel Group, told reporters.
The company, which will manufacture multi-range tubes of 14-
to 21-inch sizes, will export 65 percent of its products and
supply the remaining 35 percent of the products to the local
market, Rachmat said.
"We will tap the marketing network of Toshiba and Sumitomo for
the distribution of our products," he added.
Local demand for television set is estimated by industry
analysts here at around 2.5 million a year.
Base
With the establishment of the venture, which is Toshiba's
third overseas production site for color picture tubes after
Thailand and the United States, Toshiba is committed to making
Indonesia an important industrial base for its TV tubes, Egawa
said.
"For the purpose, we will bring our know-how here and transfer
our advanced state-of-the-art technology to local partners," he
said.
Tunky meanwhile said that the plant, the first of its kind in
the country, will give mutual advantages to both parties,
considering that Indonesia has a import duty exemption for
picture tube spare parts.
Welcoming the establishment of the new electronic plant,
Sanyoto said that: "I believe that electronic products will
become one of Indonesia's major export commodities."
He noted that the Investment Coordinating Board has thus far
approved a total of 268 electronic industries with a commitment
of Rp 1.2 trillion under the domestic investment scheme and $2.5
billion under the foreign investment scheme.
He noted that electronic exports significantly increased from
$1.1 billion in 1993 to some $1.8 billion in the first 11 months
of last year. "Our potential export of this sector is around $5.3
billion per annum," he added.
Sanyoto is also optimistic about brisk new investment
approvals this year.
"In the first two months alone, we have approved more than
$10.3 billion of new foreign investments," he said.
Last year, he said, foreign investment commitments were around
$23.7 billion, compared to some $8.9 billion in 1993. (fhp)