Sanyo's refrigerator plant

JAKARTA (JP): The Japan-based Sanyo electronics manufacturer will relocate its refrigerator plant to Bekasi, east of Jakarta, next year, an executive says.

The president of PT Sanyo Industries Indonesia, Koji Miyagawa, told reporters here Saturday that the Japanese manufacturer prefers to relocate its plant from Japan to Indonesia because the electronics market in Malaysia and Singapore has become saturated.

He said the relocated plant, valued at US$30 million, will have an annual capacity of 700,000 units, all of which will be marketed domestically.

Miyagawa said Sanyo has also set up a motor compressor plant in Bekasi, which will be inaugurated on Thursday.

"The plant, built on a 23-hectare plot, costs $27 million," he said, adding that it will be the first Indonesian plant to manufacture motor compressors for refrigerators.

He said that the motor compressor plant, 90 percent owned by Sanyo and 10 percent by Indonesian partners, will produce about 1.5 million to two million units per year.

According to Miyagawa, Sanyo currently operates five manufacturing plants in Indonesia, two of which are located in Batam, Riau.(amd/icn)