PT Indal ties up with Japan

SURABAYA (JP): Publicly listed PT Indal Aluminum Industry, through its subsidiary PT Indal Investindo, has set up two joint ventures with Japanese companies to manufacture car spare parts in Gresik, East Java, and Bekasi, West Java.

PT Indal Investindo signed a joint venture agreement here yesterday with Furukawa Electric Co. Ltd., Toyota Tsusho Corp., and Itoh Seikoh Co. Ltd.

"We expect to contribute to increasing the local content of locally assembled cars," Indal's president Alim Markus said yesterday.

Alim said the new joint venture company, called PT Furukawa Indal, would invest US$7 million in a plant in Gresik to produce aluminum condensers and evaporators for automobile air conditioners.

The plant project within the Maspion industrial area in Gresik is scheduled to start commercial production in the second half of next year.

It will be able to produce 3,000 tons of condensers and evaporators a year, he said.

The company plans to export 60 percent of its products to other Southeast Asian countries and sell the remaining 40 percent domestically, he said.

PT Furukawa Indal is 40 percent owned by PT Indal Investindo, 55 percent by the Furukawa Electric and 5 percent by Toyota Tsusho.

PT Indal also agreed yesterday to tie up with Itoh Seikoh and Toyota Tsusho in a joint venture, named PT Alim and Itoh Corporation.

The joint venture, with an investment of US$2 million, will be 45 percent owned by PT Indal Investindo, 50 percent by Itoh Seikoh, and 5 percent by Toyota Tsusho.

The company plans to build a plant to produce about 1.5 million pieces of automotive spare parts a year, Alim said.

The plant will be built in Bekasi, West Java, and will start commercial production in the second semester of next year, he said.

About 30 percent of the products will be exported and 70 percent will be sold locally, he added. (das)