Dairy ingredients giant on Indonesia: ‘A lot of opportunities here’

“Indonesia for Kerry provides an exciting time,” ​the company’s Indonesian and Asia Pacific general manger Jake Riddle told us at Food Ingredients-Asia in Jakarta last week.

“A lot of opportunities we see here for the customers and consumers of Indonesia. The consumers of Indonesia are young, they’re thriving, they’re interested in new great tasting products and at the same time more importantly the nutritional aspects.​

“So as these people become more aware, they become more connected through social media it is very important that they have access to great tasting products – things that are nutricious…”​

Localisation​

Riddle said it was important to have a base in Indonesia as the market was too important to run from a base elsewhere like Singapore. In line with that commitment an R&D centre was soon to open in Jakarta.

Functional proteins and pre- and probiotics were examples of healthful ingredients finding their way into nutritional products targeting mostly younger consumers.

“It’s in its infancy but I think that as both the regulatory and government bodies of Indonesia realise the need for this over the long term we are getting a lot of engagement from our customers, particularly at this show – what can we do to help them deliver products that would be perceived as nutritious or deliver even more so a claim that will deliver some value to the consumers of Indonesia.” ​

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