Sampoerna expands plant

JAKARTA (JP): PT HM Sampoerna, a Surabaya-based cigarette producer listed on the Jakarta Stock Exchange, is expanding its factory in Pandaan, East Java with a total investment of US$100 million.

Herry Purnomo, marketing manager of the company's Jakarta branch, announced yesterday that the expansion is to meet increasing demand.

"Local market demand for clove cigarettes is increasing, and Sampoerna itself has enjoyed a 300 percent increase in sales during the last two quarters," Herry said during the launching of its latest product, filter cigarettes.

He said the company exports less than one percent of its production of over 450,000 cigarettes per week.

According to the company's president, Putera Sampoerna, the first phase of the expansion was completed in 1988 with a total investment of US$50 million, while the construction of the second phase, now 40-percent completed, is expected to come on stream at the end of 1995.

The company's cigarette factories, located in a number of industrial areas in Surabaya and nearby Pandaan, currently process 50 tons of tobacco per day and 750,000 tons of clove per month, or almost 70 percent of its full capacity. (rid)