Azelis confident about Indonesia

Azelis is optimistic about growth in Indonesia and the rest of Southeast Asia, predicting rosy prospects for 2019 and beyond based the company’s ability to provide awardwinning, unique formulations.

Azelis only established a presence in Indonesia, Southeast Asia’s largest economy, in 2017. Since then, the company has kept itself busy investing in not just human capital but also an application laboratory. Its three major segments are in food, agro-chemical and personal care.

“We anticipate to grow in the next three to five years with the bulk of business coming from small and medium enterprises,” reveals Antonius Utomo Prihantono, managing director of Azelis Indonesia. “SMEs often require support from us, which makes our food application lab a valuable infrastructure as it enables us to help our customers embrace new technologies and innovations. On the other hand, working in close collaboration withingredients, we can provide tailor-made solutions that fit market requirements.”

Mr. Prihantono is also certain the ASEAN free movement of goods, services, investment and skilled labour that is expected to gain more momentum in the coming years, will further spur opportunities for the food sector. “I do believe the free movement can open up economic opportunities for member countries in the next couple of years. When we look at the current situation in the food industry, the trend is almost similar. The demand for healthy food in Thailand or Vietnam is the same in Indonesia."

Azelis operates 55 laboratories across the globe in nine markets. “Each market is very unique with its own demands, particularly for food,” adds Andy Sutanto of Azelis’ marketing and product manager for Southeast Asia during an interview with Azelis at Fi Asia 2018 in Jakarta. “We want to be close to our customers. We know the market, we know the trends, and we want to be able to serve the customer in the market where it all happens. That is why we invest in laboratories locally.”

Mr. Prihantono is confident that the international collaboration among the laboratories and the innovations that come from each of them, will help boost the Indonesian market.

“We offer excellent local technical support. Our food team in particular possesses expertise gained in the food and beverage sectors. It is also backed by our network of laboratories. We are a distribution company, but our laboratories generate a great deal of innovation. We invest in application development and this has not gone unnoticed by our partners or the industries where we operate. Not only do we have well equipped laboratories, suited to the needs of local markets, but we also make sure that the vast internal knowledge is shared adequately so that we can replicate successes from one region to another.”

Read the full article from Food Pacific Manufacturing Journal