Gudang Garam

Gudang Garam (lit. 'salt warehouse') was founded on 26 June 1958 and it is salutary to reflect that one of the most successful tobacco companies in Indonesia today should have been started less than fifty years ago and by a man of such humble origins as Tjoa Ing Hwie.

In his late twenties, Ing Hwie got his big break when his uncle offered him a job working with tobacco and sauce at his kretek factory Cap 93. Cap 93 was one of the most famous kretek brands in East Java. Hard work and diligence was soon rewarded by promotion to Head of Tobacco and Sauce and eventually led to Ing Hwie becoming a company director.

Ing Hwie left Cap 93 in 1956 taking fifty employees with him. He immediately started buying land and raw materials in Kediri and soon after began producing his own klobot kretek which he marketed under the brand name Inghwie. Two years later Ing Hwie re-named and registered his company as Pabrik Rokok Tjap Gudang Garam and a legend was born.

The story behind the name "Gudang Garam" deserves a special mention. One night, Ing Hwie had a dream in which the old salt warehouse which stood across the way from Cap 93 featured prominently. Subsequently, Sarman, one of the original fifty employees who had followed Ing Hwie when he left Cap 93, advice Ing Hwie to put a picture of the warehouse on every packet of his kretek to secure good fortune. Ing Hwie thought this was a good idea and asked Sarman to design the logo.

Gudang Garam grow rapidly and by the end of 1958 it had five hundred employees producing over fifty million kretek annually. By 1966, after only eight years in production, Gudang Garam had grown to be the largest kretek factory in Indonesia with an annual production of 472 million sticks. By 1969, Gudang Garam was producing 864 million sticks a year and was indisputably the largest kretek producer in Indonesia.

In 1979 Ing Hwie completely renovated Gudang Garam's production system, ordered thirty rolling machines and developed a new formula for his machine-made kretek. Despite being a relative latecomer to the game of kretek, Gudang Garam was now clearly the largest producer of kretek in Indonesia and one of the top ten largest cigarette manufacturers in the world.

Djarum Indonesia

Djarum is a popular brand of kreteks (cigarettes with clove) manufactured in Indonesia and owned by the PT Djarum company. The clove ingredient provides eugenol to the mouth, throat, and lungs. It acts as a local anesthetic and produces a tingling sensation. Some claim eugenol also produces a mild euphoric "high", though hard evidence on this effect is inconclusive. Djarum is the third-largest kretek manufacturer behind Gudang Garam and Sampoerna in Indonesia. Djarum has also been successful in some countries outside Indonesia. In particular, the company has opened a factory in Brazil, where there is significant demand for kreteks. It also has 70% of the US kretek market. Contents [hide] 1 Black 2 Special 3 Super 4 Bali Hai 5 Djarum 76 6 Djarum Coklat 7 Others 8 See also 9 External links

HM Sampurna

That has become the key to success in the market for a leading cigarette maker in Indonesia, PT Hanjaya Mandala Sampurna (PT HM Sampoerna Tbk), which has its head office in Surabaya. With its various packed products, either hand made cigarettes (HMC) or machine made cigarettes (MMC), Sampoerna's brand name has long been a favorite among smokers, both young and old.

Reaching the end of 2000 amid concerns over a weak rupiah, the Jakarta Composite Index (JCI) of leading stocks on the Jakarta Stock Exchange (JSX) has been hovering between 427 and 430. However, tobacco stocks remain the focus of interest of foreign investors. Early in November 2000, HMSP's stock price rose to Rp.14,300. Anticipating the coming holiday season, HMSP's stock price closed at around Rp.14,100. The fall of the market in general is simply related to the poor performance of the Indonesian economy due to the crisis that has affected Asia and the Pacific since 1998. While most crisis-hit countries in the region have started to recover, Indonesia still continues to suffer.

Stepping into 2001, the company's stock price will get better. It will be fully dependent upon the company's performance in the second half of 2000. Political and social concerns that ultimately influence the process of Indonesia's economic recovery, will determine the company's fortunes. Lately, the ongoing political concern of the standoff between President Abdurrahman Wahid and the members of the House of Representatives on various issues has sparked more concerns for business practitioners. These are external influences that should also be seriously taken into account.