Indofood gets a taste of Turkey with expansion plans underway

Indonesia’s largest food producer, PT Indofood Sukses Makmur Tbk or better known as Indofood has been trying to tap into the European market via its first stop, Turkey.It all started since 2014, where food giant set up a factory in the highly-populated country of a 78 million population and it’s said to be one of Indofood’s biggest markets now. Anthoni Salim, chief executive of Indofood told local reporters during his recent press conference at the company’s headquarter in Jakarta that - Turkey is seen as a bridge to enter the EU.Financial Times reported that the FMCG giant’s target is to increase its global business to 15% by penetrating the global halal food market. In its home country Indonesia, the company dominates with a 10% market share in the FMCG pie, accounting for 70% of the domestic noodle market. This contributes about 65 percent of its revenue.The company has been reportedly targeting emerging markets like Turkey, including across the Middle East and Africa in spreading their influence plus branding overseas.According to a report by Asian Nikkei Review, the fact that Indonesia  has the world’s largest Muslim population provides an advantage in countries like Turkey, where majority of its population is also Muslim. This also means halal products like Indomie would likely be very well received.Currently,Indomie is reportedly outselling Makarneks, which is Turkey’s most popular local brand, a joint venture between Japanese Nissin Foods and a local firm. Indomie noodles are manufactured overseas in at least eight countries such as Malaysia, Egypt, Nigeria, Sudan, Saudi Arabia, Kenya and available in more than 60 markets.According to the 2015 World Instant Noodles Association, China has the highest number of instant noodles consumption with 41% of global total, followed by Indonesia (13% ) and Japan (6%).