Robert Go, Jakarta – Recession-hit, lower-income Indonesians are turning to instant noodles instead of rice as a key source of nourishment, sending sales soaring.
Giant food-producer Indofood sold a staggering 2.4 billion noodle packets and earned 1.3 trillion rupiah (S$230 million) in the first three months of this year. This was a 7-per-cent sales and 16-per-cent earnings increase, compared to the same period last year.
"Noodles take three minutes to make and are cheap. More people now eat noodles instead of rice," said street hawker Edy Rosadi. A plate of plain rice costs 2,000 rupiah at the many food stalls that dot Jakarta's streets, but the addition of vegetables or meat to the meal doubles that price.
On the other hand, packets of noodles sell for about 1,000 rupiah each at these same stalls, and hawkers offer bowls complete with seasoning and vegetables or meatballs, for between 1,500 and 2,500 rupiah.
For lower-income Indonesians in the capital and other urban centres, many of whom now work longer hours to make ends meet, noodles have become a convenient and more economical option to rice.
For nearly 90 per cent of the working population, salaries have not kept up with the increase in the price of rice, eggs, oil, flour and other staple goods over the last four years.
Said courier Diat Hadi, who earns between 15,000 rupiah and 20,000 rupiah a day: "Why go home to eat? Noodles are cheaper, tastes good and are nutritious enough." He has a meal of instant noodles twice a day – sometimes three times – but varies the flavourings to avoid getting bored. "Sometimes fried noodles, other times curry-flavoured noodles, depending on my mood," he said.
Indofood, which is controlled by the Salim Group, said that it had made it a point to stay responsive to customers' needs. It had kept instant-noodle prices low despite higher production costs arising from the rupiah's exchange rate against the US dollar, it said.
Much of the wheat that goes towards noodle manufacturing is imported, as is the case with the material used for packaging the product. Ms Eva Riyanti Hutapea, Indofood's chief executive, said the company "adjusted" the selling price of Indofood's products in February this year, but has not made changes since then.
Economist Sri Adiningsih, of Gadjah Mada University in Yogyakarta, said that lower-income Indonesians would continue to adjust their purchasing, eating and other patterns to fit with prevailing economic conditions.
"There are many more people selling street food these days compared to three or four years ago. More people are being forced into that kind of work, but more importantly, demand for noodles and other cheap food items is rising," she said.
A major effect of Indonesia's on-going economic crisis, according to Ms Sri and other analysts, is that the poor – a growing group by most accounts – would have to continue adopting cheaper options and lower their living standards.