L’Oreal opens new cosmetics facility in West Java, Indonesia

French cosmetics company L’Oreal has opened a new cosmetics facility in West Java, Indonesia, with an aim to achieve a goal of gaining one billion new customers over the next ten years.

The firm said the new facility is located in the Jababeka Industrial Estate in Cikarang district, West Java, which would churn out 200 million skin and hair care products in 2013, out of which 70% would be exported, reported thejakartapost.com.

L’Oreal Asia-Pacific vice-president Joechen Zaumseil told the website that Indonesia would become even more important for the company as the middle class drove cosmetic consumption, generating growth in the cosmetic market.

"With an average growth of 10 percent [annually], the [Indonesian] beauty market by 2025 would be worth ¤5 billion, which is the total worth of the Asia-Pacific beauty market today," Zaumseil added.

The firm invested IDR1.2 trillion ($135m) to build the new factory, which occupies a 66,000m² space.

According to the firm, the new facility aims take on the challenge posed by a deluge of imported cosmetics entering the domestic market, as demand for premium cosmetic products soared.

L’Oreal in 2012 has seen its Indonesian sales grown four times in value and 10 times in unit sales.

The firm is also looking to capture the imagination of a large part of the consuming class, about 90 million people in the next 20 years.

Indonesia, with a population of 238 million people and a GDP growth of above 6% in 2011, has witnessed a middle-class boom in the cosmetics sector.