European packaging firm Miko expands to Asia through joint venture

European packaging company Miko Pac NV is going global through a newly formed 50/50 joint venture with Asian plastics processor Innoware Indonesia.

Oud-Turnhout, Belgium-based Miko, which just invested almost 9 million euros ($12.4 million) to expand its Polish production plant, made the move to capitalize on Indonesia's huge potential market as well as serving multinational customers in Asia.

Jakarta-based Innoware, with annual sales of $6.2 million and 277 employees, targets similar markets to Miko producing plastic tubs for the food industry, chiefly for ice cream. A second division turns out molded plastic promotional products like soap containers and mugs.

Miko Pac — which also has a sister company specializing in coffee — has injection molding and thermoforming. Innoware has injection molding and blow molding.

“Thanks to our production sites in Belgium and Poland, and our sales office in Germany, we are in a good position to cover the European market. But, now is the time for Miko Pac to target the Asian market as well, which is a long-term target,” explained Miko group CEO Frans Van Tilbourg in a statement.

Miko aims to provide the Indonesian partnership with added value based on its expertise. With Innoware, which is already expanding, the Belgian firm plans to establish a new green field plant built to European quality and infrastructure standards, according to Miko's joint managing director Jan Michielsen.

Miko believes it can take advantage of the likely growth of family size plastic food packaging replacing today's small plastic foil individual portion packs in the Indonesian market. Such demand will be driven by increased spending power resulting from a growing national economy and Indonesian middle class, the executive predicted.   

In Europe, Miko reported a 7.5 percent sales increase in 2013, to 149 million euros ($206.5 million), partly due to a strong performance in the plastics packaging business. It attracted new customers in Poland and Germany and benefited from success in selling nine million ready-meal packs.

Miko Pac completed an ambitious expansion project adding additional building space, machines and molds at its Polish plastics packaging plant. It completed construction of a new production hall at the site in Bydgoszcz, Poland. This will house up to 40 more injection molding machines. The firm reported it has also taken up an option to purchase and develop a 29,000-square-meter industrial site adjacent to its plant.

Miko Pac saw its divisional pre tax profit increase by 13.6 percent during 2013 and reported that packaging represented 48.1 percent of the group's turnover for the year. Export business for the group represented 79 percent of its annual sales last year.