Japanese food producer Ajinomoto will enter the Indonesian bread market to ramp up expansion of its consumer foods business in the country as well as build a frozen noodle production plant in the US.
The company will establish Ajinomoto Bakery Indonesia (ABI), which will develop, manufacture and market frozen bread in Jakarta. To date, frozen bread has not been manufactured in Indonesia.
ABI will receive around JPY1.7bn ($13.6m) in capital and will employ nearly 50 people.
Ajinomoto Sales Indonesia will sell the products manufactured by ABI mainly in the Jakarta metropolitan area.
Earlier this week, Ajinomoto Toyo Frozen Noodles announced plans to build a frozen noodle production plant in the US to strengthen its frozen foods business in North America.
The JPY3bn ($25m) frozen noodles plant will have a production capacity of around 8,600 tons per year.
When operational in July 2016, the plant will produce frozen noodles such as Japanese-style ramen and yakisoba and will cater to the growing demand for Japanese-style ramen in North America.
The frozen foods market in North America was estimated at approximately $40bn in fiscal 2014.
