In March, Indonesia’s Sun Paper Source announced it had invested in four tissue machines at its plant in Ngoro, Mojokerto, boosting production capacity to 300,000tpy in total with sister company Sopanusa Tissue & Packaging Saranasukses. Here, TWM Senior Editor Helen Morris interviews Chief Executive Ronald Rusco to get the latest on the company’s growth ambitions across Southeast Asia and beyond.
“Tissue paper is now very much considered an essential item for daily living here in Indonesia,” Sun Paper Source Chief Executive Ronald Rusco explains from his tissue plant in Ngoro, Mojokerto, East Java. “And that was never more the case than during the pandemic. Then we saw that the people here had become more concerned about health and hygiene issues, and so tissue paper usage substantially increased during the pandemic years in Indonesia, and across the whole of Southeast Asia.”
“Unprecedented sales” after navigating the challenges of Covid-19
Sun Paper Source was quick on its feet. Such was the increase in tissue demand, in March this year it and sister company Sopanusa Tissue & Packaging Saranasukses (Sopanusa), as part of SPS Corporate, announce visionary expansion plans. Four new Crescent Former paper machines (currently supplied confidentially) will be installed at the Ngoro facility, and Rusco confirms that the investment decision was driven by Sun Paper Source and Sopanusa achieving “unprecedented sales” after “navigating the challenges posed by the Covid-19 crisis”.
“As one of the premier titans in the Southeast Asian tissue industry, we currently boast a fleet of eight tissue machines, and are now advancing by adding four new tissue machines,” he said at the time.
Production capacity will increase from the current 180,000tpy – which sits across the company’s existing eight tissue machines – to a total of 300,000tpy along with Sopanusa. Most capacity will be converted into finished products, and more fully automated converting machines will be integrated into the new tissue machines to produce facial, toilet, and kitchen towel rolls. “By dedicating the machines to produce based on their best capability, we will make sure they run efficiently,” he says. “We will also continue to adopt new technologies to be competitive at production cost.”
The lines – PM18, 19, 20, and 21 – will be homed in a total area of 9.5 hectares, with two machines operational by the end of 2024, and the remaining two expected to be up and running by February 2025.
It is not the first time the business has announced rapid investment plans in response to a rapidly changing environment. TWM last visited the company at Sopanusa’s site in the city port of Surabaya, in 2013. An hour and a half flight from Jakarta, the integrated tissue plant is located on the outskirts of the vibrant, sprawling metropolis, which mixes modern skyscrapers with canals and buildings from its Dutch colonial past. Thousands of motorcycles, cars, lorries, and bikes drive past stalls and houses, mosques, and statues – which now, as then, proved that the country was very much on the rise.
At the time Sopanusa was rapidly expanding the site, and the main growth potential lay almost solely abroad in the tissue jumbo reel export market. Back in 2013, some 85% of its jumbo roll capacity was exported to 60 countries, supporting independent producers across the world with a focus on businesses in the Middle East and South Africa, as well as its main target region – the Southeast Asia Pacific.
New machinery investments enabled it to expand into new and bigger markets where it had previously not been able to get a foothold. In the AfH market, Sopanusa/Sun Paper Source produces the OEM brand and special packaging designed products including Multifold and Interfold Towel, Jumbo Roll Toilet, Kitchen and Towel roll, Facial Tissue, Standard toilet roll, as well as coreless and small core toilet. In 2013, tissue consumption per capita in Indonesia was “still low” compared to surrounding countries, around 0.5 kilos per person per year. But the business was seeing big potential to grow due to the fast growth of the Indonesian middle class. “Soon tissue paper will become a necessity in every family life,” they said at the time. Things were changing, and the company said it was seeing “more Westernised habits for tissue use”.
Based on data from the Ministry of Industry, Indonesia’s per capita paper consumption is relatively low at 32kg in 2022, yet the industry is expected to grow driven by higher demand for tissue and paper-based packaging from domestic and international markets. Elsewhere, data from Statista sites that Indonesia’s tissue and hygiene paper market is “experiencing a surge in demand due to the country’s growing population and increasing awareness of personal hygiene.” Its latest report said the largest segment within the market is toilet paper, which is expected to have a market volume of $3.12bn in 2024. Online sales are predicted to contribute 3.5% of the total revenue in the market by 2024. Furthermore, the volume in this market is expected to reach 3.5bn kg by 2028. In 2025, the market is projected to show a volume growth of 1.9%.
Generally across Indonesia, Rusco says tissue paper consumption is increasing, both in the private label sectors and also in the regular brands sectors. “However, the trend is showing that private label growth is higher than the regular brand. In terms of the AfH market, this sector has recovered by around 90% compared to pre-pandemic conditions.”
Over the past year, the company has continued to focus on increasing its presence in the modern marketplace, as well as nationwide distribution, by strengthening its brand awareness, he says. “During the pandemic, people’s concern about health and hygiene issues and tissue paper usage is increased. And in the domestic market, we still believe it has more room to grow, whilst the global market will just grow organically.”
Changing e-commerce trends – many of which were driven by the pandemic – have also offered up opportunity: “The growing rate in e-commerce is the highest amongst the other market channels,” he says. “However, most of the tissue sales are still in the retail and modern marketplaces.”
He elaborates that as both the export and domestic tissue paper markets are a commodity item, price is mostly driven by the market, and so he isn’t concerned with inflationary pressures. “As tissue paper is considered such an essential item for daily living, the fluctuation of the pricing drives the customer to choose the “value for money” item rather than the premium or branded one,” he adds.
Is he worried about overcapacity in the market? “No, exporting is a key opportunity for us. Indonesia is a net tissue exporter, especially for us, and our export market is up to 80% of our capacity.”
Back in 2013, the company confirmed that differentiation was the key for it achieving success in the marketplace, and its strategy was to “continue to grow steadily into new markets with a unique product offering to meet a demanding market.” One aspect of that outlook was environmental certification, and in April 2012 Sopanusa became the first Indonesian tissue manufacturer to become FSC-certified. When asked what further environmental advances the company has made, Rusco explains that in the last few years the business has adopted the latest technology to reduce the energy cost, such as steam and electricity. Plans also include changing some of the company’s electricity sources to using Geothermal energy.
With most of the company’s new four tissue machine capacity being converted into finished products ready for export, Indonesia’s – and Sun Paper Source’s – potential as a net exporter is firmly cemented, and ever growing. “For a net exporter country such as Indonesia, the main challenge will continue to be logistical issues,” Rusco adds. “Especially based on the logistic situation that we faced during the pandemic. Whilst for us as a business, the key opportunities will be continuing to take advantage of our geographical location and abilities by continuously growing, and keeping an excellence level of service.”
