Latest news with #Indonesian-made
Straits Times
2 days ago
- Business
- Straits Times
Candid Mixers and PT Sukanda Djaya Announce Strategic Distribution Partnership
JAKARTA, Indonesia, Aug. 19, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Scaling Indonesia's First Premium Mixer Brand Nationwide Just two days after Indonesia commemorates 80 years of independence, a bold wave of local innovation takes center stage in the beverage industry. Candid Mixers - the country's first homegrown premium mixer brand - is proud to announce a nationwide distribution agreement with PT Sukanda Djaya (SKD), one of Indonesia's most trusted food and beverage distributors. Now pouring at Indonesia's top bars - Candid Mixers, proudly made and delivered across the archipelago by SKD This partnership marks a milestone moment: an Indonesian-made, bartender-led mixer brand going national with the full force of SKD's logistics and retail expertise behind it. "Candid Mixers brings an exciting new dimension to the beverage landscape in Indonesia. As the country's first locally produced premium mixer brand, it reflects both innovation and quality - values we're proud to support as we scale their reach nationwide." - PT Sukanda Djaya Under the agreement, SKD will distribute Candid's signature 250 ml SKUs including Imperial Tonic, Club Soda, and Ginger Ale across hotels, bars, clubs, and premium retail channels. New flavours are also on the horizon. Crafted in Indonesia. Designed for the World. Created by local bartenders and proudly manufactured in Indonesia, Candid Mixers reflects a modern Indonesian spirit - ambitious, elevated, and ready to lead. Following a strong first half of 2025, the partnership arrives at a pivotal moment for the brand, fueled by increasing demand from hospitality venues seeking high-quality, wellness-aligned beverage options. Candid has already earned attention nationwide for its bold flavour profiles , design-forward identity, and versatile, alcohol-free appeal - whether poured into a cocktail or sipped straight from the can. And now, with the launch of Emma, Candid's AI Bartender, venues and consumers alike can unlock even more creativity. Emma can instantly suggest recipes for signature cocktails, craft alcohol-free pairings, or generate batch-ready serves for events - bringing Candid's premium mixers to life in new and innovative ways. Key Distribution Highlights: Direct fulfillment through SKD's trusted nationwide network Immediate availability expansion across hotels, bars, clubs, and modern grocers Launch of trial packs, retail-ready displays, and co-branded marketing in Q3 This partnership is more than logistics - it is a signal of Indonesia's growing place on the global beverage map, with Candid leading the way. Website: Images & Video: Google Drive Folder Meet Emma: Your AI Bartender Candid's new AI Bartender, Emma, can create drink ideas for any occasion - whether you need a refreshing mocktail for a spa day, a signature cocktail for your bar menu, or a batch serve for an event. Try Emma now - see 3 mocktail and 2 cocktail recipes using Candid Imperial Tonic, one for poolside and one for a night out .
Korea Herald
2 days ago
- Business
- Korea Herald
Candid Mixers and PT Sukanda Djaya Announce Strategic Distribution Partnership
JAKARTA, Indonesia, Aug. 19, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Scaling Indonesia's First Premium Mixer Brand Nationwide Just two days after Indonesia commemorates 80 years of independence, a bold wave of local innovation takes center stage in the beverage industry. Candid Mixers - the country's first homegrown premium mixer brand - is proud to announce a nationwide distribution agreement with PT Sukanda Djaya (SKD), one of Indonesia's most trusted food and beverage distributors. This partnership marks a milestone moment: an Indonesian-made, bartender-led mixer brand going national with the full force of SKD's logistics and retail expertise behind it. "Candid Mixers brings an exciting new dimension to the beverage landscape in Indonesia. As the country's first locally produced premium mixer brand, it reflects both innovation and quality - values we're proud to support as we scale their reach nationwide." - PT Sukanda Djaya Under the agreement, SKD will distribute Candid's signature 250 ml SKUs including Imperial Tonic, Club Soda, and Ginger Ale across hotels, bars, clubs, and premium retail channels. New flavours are also on the horizon. Crafted in Indonesia. Designed for the World. Created by local bartenders and proudly manufactured in Indonesia, Candid Mixers reflects a modern Indonesian spirit - ambitious, elevated, and ready to lead. Following a strong first half of 2025, the partnership arrives at a pivotal moment for the brand, fueled by increasing demand from hospitality venues seeking high-quality, wellness-aligned beverage options. Candid has already earned attention nationwide for its bold flavour profiles, design-forward identity, and versatile, alcohol-free appeal - whether poured into a cocktail or sipped straight from the can. And now, with the launch of Emma, Candid's AI Bartender, venues and consumers alike can unlock even more creativity. Emma can instantly suggest recipes for signature cocktails, craft alcohol-free pairings, or generate batch-ready serves for events - bringing Candid's premium mixers to life in new and innovative ways. Key Distribution Highlights: This partnership is more than logistics - it is a signal of Indonesia's growing place on the global beverage map, with Candid leading the way. Candid's new AI Bartender, Emma, can create drink ideas for any occasion - whether you need a refreshing mocktail for a spa day, a signature cocktail for your bar menu, or a batch serve for an event.
Bangkok Post
23-07-2025
- Business
- Bangkok Post
Tariff talks are unlikely to go as planned
It is only a week away from the Aug 1 deadline when the 36% reciprocal tariff levied on Thai exports to the US will take effect. However, US President Donald Trump has left the door open for countries to negotiate for lower tariffs. Several countries have reached agreements with the US after receiving tariff rate notification letters on July 7th, such as Indonesia, Japan and the Philippines. All have to yield to the US demand for more access to their economies, plus other conditions. Even Japan has agreed to allow more access to its closely guarded rice market. Indonesia is an important case study for Thailand as its 32% reciprocal tariff was reduced to 19%. Thailand is looking for a similar tariff reduction deal. Much like Vietnam and the Philippines, Indonesia has given free export access to its 280-million people market. Moreover, products exported to the US will be taxed differently between Indonesian-made products (19%) and transshipment products (19%+ reciprocal tariff rate for transshipping countries). Open access and two-tier tax rates are not the only conditions, though more than US$200 billion in purchase pledges for American goods, ranging from energy products to 50 Boeing jets, is included. I am surprised that nobody asked why Indonesia agreed to such strict conditions, particularly compared to Vietnam's which has no purchase pledge. Indonesia has a small trade surplus of $17.8 billion (572.5 billion baht) with the US while Vietnam has a $123.5 billion trade surplus. Based on the size of the trade gaps, Indonesia should have had much softer conditions, not harder. The $200 billion purchase alone is able to close the US-Indonesia trade gap for 10 years. This is my own reading of the situation. The reason why Indonesia went all out to win a lower tariff rate was not about trade, but to gain investment appeal for the country. With a 32% tariff rate compared to Vietnam's 20%, foreign investors would have been more likely to by-pass Indonesia for Vietnam. Thailand has not gone that far yet to worry about international competitiveness. The negotiation team is still focusing on protecting the domestic market, particularly on agricultural products. The team seems to ignore the fact Thai exports to the US total about 2 trillion baht per year. Even after deducting "transshipment" products, Thai export value to the US market would still be around 1.2 to 1.5 trillion baht. The value of the US market is many times larger than the domestic agricultural market that the government wants to protect. Unfortunately, some Thai farmers, such as pig farmers, could be severely hurt as US pork is 30% cheaper. The efficient US pig farming industry has wiped out pig farmers in many countries and it is likely to do so in Thailand. The smart solution is not to close our doors to US pork products but to compensate Thai pig farmers for damage caused while encouraging them to move to another profitable industry. It is the job of the government to balance the benefits of the economy as whole against the losses of certain industries. Adequate and fair compensation should be the answer to making affected farmers happy while exploiting robust export opportunities. Unfortunately, the government probably does not think like me about winning the big ticket first and compensating the affected concurrently. The negotiation team, as it appears in the news, will offer about 90% access to the Thai market. I do not think such partial access is acceptable to the US in light of the free access to the Vietnamese, Indonesian and Philippine markets. Japan, to get tariff rate reduction from 25% to 15%, would have to not only open its rice market but also commit to a $550 billion investment pledge. After free market access with a zero import tariff, the second issue in the eyes of the US is transshipment penalties. This is a burning issue and probably not negotiable. However, the public has never heard about commitments on the issue from the Thai negotiation team. In the Vietnamese and Indonesian cases, both accepted the imposition of much higher tax rates for transshipment products. The rates are set high enough to discourage transshipments. To illustrate the severity of the issue, I will need to give some numbers. Mr Trump's first term in office began in January 2017. He then gradually raised the import tax on Chinese products from 3% to 20%. To avoid paying higher taxes, Chinese manufacturers diversified their production bases, notably to Thailand and Vietnam. As a result, direct exports from China to the US dropped from $538.5 billion in 2018 to $428.7 billion in 2024. Is it logical to see China exported less to the US over time? Should it be the other way around? After all, it is a known fact that China has been building more factories. While direct exports from China to the US dropped by $110 billion during this period, exports from Vietnam and Thailand to the US rose by $87.4 billion and $31.5 billion respectively. Add the two numbers and readers will understand where the $110 billion in Chinese products went. Transshipments are a big issue in this negotiation game. Peter Navarro, White House trade adviser, told CNBC that "Vietnam's 0% tariff offer is not enough, it's the non-tariff cheating that matters." Some optimistic critics point out that Thailand ought to have a milder "transshipment" penalty, compared to Vietnam. Therefore, Thailand will get a better reciprocal tariff rate cut from the US. I used to think like that too until I saw the Indonesian case where the country has almost no transshipment volume, but received almost the same tax rate as Vietnam. This is more of a preventive measure as all Asean members have a free trade agreement with China where products can be shipped tax-free from China to any member country and transshipped to the US later. In short, if it has not happened yet, it could happen any minute. A penalty tax rate is therefore essential regardless of present transshipment volume. Before I conclude, I have an observation about Indonesia. I think Indonesia has a tighter deal compared to Vietnam. Vietnam was literally Mr Trump's first successful negotiation case. He wanted a conclusion before the July 7 deadline to put pressure on other Asean countries if they want to be competitive with Vietnam in international markets. Indonesia certainly wants that and quickly joined the negotiation process. Now the pressure is on Thailand. But Thailand does not have such ambitions. We live our lives one day at a time. We are acting like we have the bargaining power. Therefore, "no total access" and "no transshipment penalty" are on the table. Undoubtedly, this will translate to "no deal" for Mr Trump.
Time of India
18-07-2025
- Business
- Time of India
Before Trump, Indonesia had another trade headache: China
JAKARTA: For more than a decade, Rudi Hendri sold locally made clothes from a stall inside Jakarta's labyrinthine Tanah Abang market. Then three years ago, a businessperson from China and his translator showed up with a proposition and changed everything. They brought samples of sportswear, made in Chinese factories, that were well made and cheaper than the Indonesian-made wares Rudi had always sold. Rudi, 55, felt he couldn't say no. Now he runs three stalls and has a partnership with multiple Chinese factories. Explore courses from Top Institutes in Select a Course Category Finance Others Degree Leadership Technology Digital Marketing Healthcare Public Policy Cybersecurity Management Data Analytics MCA Data Science PGDM CXO others MBA healthcare Data Science Project Management Product Management Operations Management Skills you'll gain: Duration: 9 Months IIM Calcutta SEPO - IIMC CFO India Starts on undefined Get Details "If the product quality is good and the price is right for me, I'll take that," Rudi said last week at Tanah Abang. Nearby, his workers sifted through a mountain of Chinese-made clothes. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Are you ready to conquer a planet? Undo When President Donald Trump complains that trade with China is killing jobs, it resonates in Indonesia. But it is Indonesian jobs that cannot compete: The country has been dealing with China's outsize influence on every aspect of its economy for more than a decade. "The worst-case scenario is not that we can't export," said Redma Gita Wirawasta, chair of the Indonesian Fiber and Filament Yarn Producers Association, referring to Trump's tariffs on Indonesian goods. "The worst-case scenario is that more and more Chinese goods will come to Indonesia." Live Events The garment industry has felt it acutely over the past two years, as China has inundated Indonesian consumers with its clothes and taken over local factories. Ruthless competition from cheap Chinese goods has wiped out local factories and mills. The entire domestic supply chain is being dismantled. By Redma's estimate, 300,000 people have lost their jobs since 2023. At another clothing stall near Rudi's at Tanah Abang, Samuel Lie, 48, counts himself lucky if he can make $4,000 a month these days, less than half of what he used to make. Most of his clients stopped buying from him a few years ago. They tell him that it is cheaper to buy from China. "We can't compete on quality," he said. The pressure has become so severe that Indonesia's last president threatened tariffs of up to 200% on Chinese goods. The current president, Prabowo Subianto, even called for the sinking of ships smuggling in textiles, the majority of them arriving from China. The urgency has coincided with an acceleration of China's exports as its economic growth slows. With consumption at home weak, Chinese factories, fueled by government loans and support, have turned to Southeast Asia because of its proximity and market potential. Indonesia alone has a population of 284 million. The pace of exports from China to Southeast Asia has only picked up since Trump's latest tariffs on Chinese goods, which have effectively shut off China's biggest market: the United States. For months, China's exports to Southeast Asia have surged -- last month by 17.5% from a year earlier. Indonesia's monthly imports of Chinese goods spiked 51% in April, the most recent data. The surge in Chinese exports to the region has animated Trump's ire that China is doing more to reroute its goods through other countries to avoid his new taxes on American importers. Indonesia and the United States agreed this week on a trade deal that places a 19% tariff on Indonesian goods in the United States, or an ever steeper levy if goods were found to be rerouted through Indonesia from a country with a higher tariff rate. But economists said the phenomenon angering Trump, known as transshipment, is not as big a factor in Indonesia as it is in countries like Vietnam. Most of the Chinese goods going into Indonesia are being bought up by Indonesian consumers, said Euben Paracuelles, chief economist for the region at Nomura, the Japanese bank. "This is not a case of goods being shipped to the U.S.," he added. The solution for Indonesia, as it is for many other countries in this part of the world, is not necessarily putting up trade barriers against China. Indonesia has become dependent on China for investment to help build out its infrastructure. It's also the biggest buyer of natural resources like palm oil and coal that drive the Indonesian economy. But China's ability to make cheap goods at enormous scale, aided by generous government subsidies to exporters, has meant that Indonesia is more often the loser when trading with China. Indonesia's economy has become so intertwined with China's that, by one estimate, when China's economy slows by 1 percentage point, it causes a 0.3-percentage-point decrease in Indonesia's economic growth. In the early 2000s, the regional trading bloc the Association of Southeast Asian Nations created a pact with China that required countries to lower their tariffs. Indonesia, which is a member, has lowered nearly all of its barriers to Chinese goods. "This has been the main reason for why China sees ASEAN as a market where they can diversify their exports," Paracuelles said. China helped to build the high-speed train that starts in the heart of Jakarta and barrels east at 200 mph along the verdant countryside to the city of Bandung, where warehouses and stalls have sold fabrics from nearby mills for decades. Known as the Whoosh, its upholstery and signage is identical to the high-speed trains that connect vast swaths of China. In a nearby market on the outskirts of Bandung, salespeople hawk Chinese fabrics, which have largely replaced locally made ones, except for batik, traditional dyed fabric. "We feel it, too, here," said Erik Kurniawan, 25, who took a break from selling the fabrics in his stall on a TikTok livestream. He said that before 2021, the market was focused on selling leftover fabrics from nearby textile factories. Now it sells more fabrics imported from China. Li Jialun, 73, recalled a time starting in the late 1970s when he was running factories in Bandung making jeans to export to the United States. He has retired from manufacturing -- he owns a local Chinese restaurant, Ya Xiu -- but said his friends had shut their factories because they could not compete with China. The effect of those closures ripples through the local economy, costing jobs and hurting businesses that worked for them, said Li, who was born in Jakarta. "Factories don't stand alone; there are suppliers," he said. "Those suppliers are far more numerous. So it affected many people. We can no longer compete with China." Three-quarters of his customers at the Ya Xiu restaurant are Chinese, he said. During the COVID-19 pandemic, when China closed its borders, his restaurant became a gathering point for some of the 3,000 homesick Chinese workers building the Whoosh train who got stuck in Indonesia. More than 200 miles east of Bandung, in the city of Solo, one of the country's biggest textile factories shuttered in March, sending shock waves through the economy. It is still reverberating across Java, Indonesia's most populous and commercially vibrant island. The factory, owned by Sritex, attracted nearby workers and helped many families send their children to school before it collapsed under its debts, putting 10,000 people out of a job. Tumi, 53, started working in the factory's yarn spinning department 30 years ago. She met her husband there. Standing in her living room, where photos of her colleagues are interspersed with family portraits, she gestured. "This was all built with my salary from Sritex," said Tumi, who like many Indonesians goes by one name. She and her friend Sri Lestari, who worked at Sritex for 24 years, teared up when talking about the day in February when management told all the workers that they could go home for the last time. Both women are unsure how to keep paying for tuition for their children still in school. They are making ends meet by operating spicy chicken and coconut stalls outside Tumi's house. But the money is not nearly enough.
The Star
29-04-2025
- Business
- The Star
Indorama to invest US$2bil in US as tariff talks go on
JAKARTA: A company rooted in Indonesia is slated to invest US$2 billion in a blue ammonia project in the United States as part of what President Prabowo Subianto called a 'win-win solution' in the ongoing tariff negotiations. Coordinating Economic Minister Airlangga Hartarto (pic), who led a top-tier Indonesian delegation to Washington, DC, for bilateral talks last week, revealed in a press conference on Monday (April 28) that Indorama, a diversified manufacturing company, would make the investment in the US state of Louisiana. He added that the US project had reached the front end engineering design stage, which is a planning phase one step on from the feasibility study. Airlangga noted that Indorama was already operating on US soil in the production of polyethylene terephthalate (PET), the most common thermoplastic polymer, which is used for packaging as well as for food and beverages containers, among many other products. 'Indorama is a multiproduct company. It started in Purwakarta and has expanded to various countries, including the US. In the US they have a PET facility, [where they make] bottles for soft drinks,' said Airlangga after making his first report to the President following his visit to the US. His team, which also included Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati and Foreign Minister Sugiono, kicked off talks expected to take up to 60 days and aimed at averting steep import tariffs that the US has threatened to impose on Indonesian-made products. According to its website, Indorama Corporation was established in Purwakarta, West Java, in 1975 as a cotton yarn spinning business. The company has since expanded to the production of polyester fibre, PET and ammonia, among other goods, with operations in numerous countries, including Turkey, Thailand, Nigeria, Uzbekistan, India, Malaysia, Senegal, Nigeria, Brazil and Georgia. Airlangga did not explain what might happen to Indorama's investment should the bilateral negotiations fail to satisfy the two parties. Airlangga presented Indorama's investment as part of Indonesia's package of concessions to the US, alongside exclusive tariff cuts for the benefit of US companies, deregulation and an offer to import more American-made products to balance out bilateral trade in a bid to placate the White House to avert exorbitant tariffs that the US has characterised as a 'reciprocal' measure. Indorama has not immediately responded to The Jakarta Post's request for comment. Airlangga said Indonesia had made a 'fair and square' offer to bump up imports of US products by 'more than US$19.5 billion', which would go beyond the US$18 billion by which Indonesian exports to the US exceeded imports from the US last year. Prabowo said earlier this month that the archipelago could import more wheat, soybeans and cotton, alongside liquefied petroleum gas, oil and oil drilling machines from the US. The bilateral negotiations with the US are to continue over the next two months with the aim of concluding them well before the 90 days US President Donald Trump has granted trading partners to come to terms with Washington. Airlangga revealed that critical minerals were discussed in the talks but refrained from divulging more details. Indonesia is the world's largest producer and holds the biggest estimated reserves of nickel, a key material for most of the batteries used in electric vehicles built by US-based carmaker Tesla Inc. Over the past weeks, the minister has refused to specify what the archipelago is asking of the US in the negotiations, but he disclosed in the press conference that the delegation was lobbying for equality. 'For Indonesia's main export commodities to America, Indonesia requests that our tariffs be equal with [those imposed on goods from] other countries, be they Vietnam or Bangladesh, so that we get an equal, level playing field,' said Airlangga. The reciprocal tariffs imposed by the US, but suspended for 90 days to allow for negotiations, vary from one country to another. Bangladesh and Vietnam are subject to rates of 37 and 46 per cent, respectively, both higher than the 32 per cent to be imposed on Indonesia. Much like Jakarta, Dhaka and Hanoi are engaging with Washington to try and avert the tariffs, which would make their goods much less competitive in the US, the world's largest consumer market. Airlangga said the government has formed three new task forces to 'expedite the negotiations' on investment and trade and to deal with economic security, domestic employment and deregulation. Speaking to the Post on Monday, Centre of Economic and Law Studies executive director Bhima Yudistira deemed Indorama's investment as a significant move and added that each investment made by Indonesian companies in the US could serve as a bargaining chip for Jakarta in the negotiations. BCA chief economist David Sumual concurred, telling the Post on Monday that Indonesia's offshore investments had mainly concentrated on emerging markets of the Global South, like China, as well as African and Middle Eastern countries. He went on to say that the key to negotiating with Washington was less about trade balancing deals and more about aligning with US strategic interests, like industrial reshoring, which could be done through investment on US soil. 'That [investment] is what Trump really wants, which is why he uses tariffs as a negotiation tool rather than quotas,' David said, explaining that Trump's real goal was to kick-start US reindustrialisation, which was a key interest for his electoral base in labor-intensive industries that had seen mass layoffs. He added that US allies, such as Japan and Taiwan, appeared to have recognised that offering investment was the key to pleasing Trump and that Indonesia's request for equal tariffs was the 'correct' tactic in the dealmaking process, the idea being that, if other countries succeed in reducing or eliminating US tariffs imposed on them, Indonesia should be afforded the same treatment. Bank Permata chief economist Josua Pardede said Indorama's US investment plan could be considered part of a package offer, 'for example, buying ammonia from a project in the US to support the growth of a sustainable fertiliser industry in [Indonesia].' The move showed a willingness on the part of Indonesia to invest in strategic sectors that could improve industrial relations between the two countries, he said. 'Thus, Indorama's investment signifies mutually beneficial economic diplomacy,' Josua told the Post on Monday. - The Jakarta Post/ANN
