Deli Stationery Invests $150 Million in Indonesia Plant

Stationery giant Deli built a factory in Karawang District, West Java Province, Indonesia, looks like Chinese companies have built a factory overseas, in fact, Chinese consumer brands in ASEAN to change the way to play - from the previous "made in China and shipped over to sell," into the "made locally and sold to the entire region. "The project cost $150 million. This project cost 150 million U.S. dollars, occupies 8.2 hectares of land, intends to build a production, warehouse, logistics in one of the regional base. Put into production after a year can sell 140 million U.S. dollars, but also to provide more than 3,000 jobs for local people. For stationery such as looking at the "inconspicuous" industry, this scale is not small - showing that Deli is not to test the waters, is really want to put the core of Southeast Asia's production base in Indonesia.

To see this step in the operation, you have to look at the global layout of Deli. As "one of the largest office equipment and stationery manufacturers in Asia", it first built its first overseas factory in Vietnam in 2019, and then smashed 270 million U.S. dollars in Vietnam in 2024 to engage in new projects; it also set up a regional headquarters in Egypt, responsible for the Middle East and North Africa market. The official website of Deli wrote very clearly: after the Vietnam factory went into operation in 2019, it will build factories in Egypt, Brazil, Mexico, Indonesia and other places one after another, with the goal of weaving a production network covering emerging markets around the world. In this network, Vietnam is mainly doing business in Europe and the United States, Egypt is in charge of the Middle East and Africa, and Indonesia is the core stronghold of "guarding the local market in Southeast Asia, and can also be sold to ASEAN neighboring countries".

Choosing Indonesia wasn't a head-scratching decision, the population and market figures were key. Indonesia has 280 million people, of which nearly 30% are children under 14 years old, which means the demand for stationery has been stable. Some research says that the size of the Indonesian office supplies market in 2024 has 1.35 billion U.S. dollars, although the annual growth of only 1.7%, look at the slow, but these things for office use is just in demand - as long as the company opens the door, the school class, printing paper, pens, these are indispensable. The entire Indonesian stationery and school supplies market size of 500 to 600 million U.S. dollars a year, although the total volume did not rise and fall, but more expensive, complete sets of products are selling faster and faster, which is exactly Deli's strengths.

This set of Deli in the Indonesian market "first pave the road to fame, and then spend money to build factories" play, especially worthy of learning from other enterprises. As early as 2018, Deli opened a company in Jakarta, through agents,TokopediaThese local e-commerce platforms, as well as offline supermarkets, step by step to spread the goods. Online opened the official store, offline can see the display, and after-sales, and so teachers, students, office workers know "Deli" brand, before starting the 150 million U.S. dollars in factory projects. This kind of "first rely on domestic production capacity to supply test the market, the data proved to be able to make money and then build a factory to reduce costs," the way, do not have to take a big risk at the beginning of the money, but also to reduce tariffs, exchange rate fluctuations and slow delivery of the problem.

The choice of building a plant in Karawang shows that Deli has a good understanding of the local industrial environment. Karawang is located in the Javan industrial zone in the east of Jakarta, which is a famous "automobile and electronic city" in Indonesia. Many automobile companies from China, Japan and South Korea have set up factories here, and a mature industrial circle has been formed long ago. The Artha Industrial Hill Industrial Park selected by Deli is also recommended by the Indonesian government, and it is well-equipped with water, electricity and logistics facilities. It is very convenient to purchase goods from packaging and plastic parts manufacturers all over the surrounding area. Moreover, it is not far from the Jakarta metropolitan area, so the goods can be sold to the whole country very quickly, and can also be shipped to other ASEAN countries through the international port of Tanjung Priok in Jakarta, so it is not an isolated production point, but a hub that can radiate the whole region.

Indonesia has recently been very friendly to foreign manufacturing enterprises, which also gives Deli a good time. 2020 after the introduction of the Comprehensive Law on Job Creation, Indonesia, the procedures for running factories has been simplified a lot, most of the manufacturing sector is allowed to wholly foreign 100% shareholding, but also tax breaks, subsidies for R & D investment in these benefits.

From the perspective of anti-risk, now we can't just rely on "one factory for global supply". In the past, a big factory in China could sell goods all over the world, but now there are too many risks of tariffs, geopolitics, and fluctuations in freight rates, so what is more reliable is to build factories in different regions and supply goods in the vicinity. That's what Deli is doing: R&D and high value-added products at home, and mid-range products overseas in Vietnam, Indonesia and Egypt. In this way, even if there is a problem in one place, the other factories can still operate normally.

From the case of Deli, can summarize a few real experience: First, the rhythm should be right: first pave the way to validate the market, and then build factories to increase the size, do not come up to smash the big money; Second, the layout should be scattered: the domestic R & D, overseas more than a few factories to build the nearby supply; Third, the location should be clever: priority to choose the industrial park with a mature industrial base, supporting the full, so the park to help you take care of the miscellaneous things; What's more important is that this breaks the inherent impression of everyone The inherent impression of Indonesia - the previous Chinese enterprises to Indonesia, are focusing on nickel, coal, these resources or heavy industry, in fact, stationery, home, small appliances, these "lightweight" brand plus manufacturing, may be the next wave of the wind mouth of the sea.