Alfida Rizky Febrianna, Jakarta – Delta Djakarta (DLTA), the producer of Anker beer, has seen a decline in performance throughout 2023. The beer industry in the world's largest Muslim-majority country continues to struggle with low consumption rates.
DLTA's Chief Commissioner, Roy Tumpal Pakpahan, announced that the company's net profit for 2023 decreased by 13.2 percent to Rp 199.6 billion from Rp 230.1 billion in the same period last year (year-on-year/yoy).
In addition to the decline in net profit, DLTA recorded a 5.38 percent yoy drop in net sales to Rp 736.83 billion, compared to Rp 778.74 billion in the same period last year.
"The decrease in net sales was due to a decline in sales volume, which was pressured by price increases since April 2023," Roy explained during a public presentation following the Annual General Meeting of Shareholders (RUPST) in Jakarta on Thursday.
Roy noted that the domestic beer industry is currently unable to reach its potential market share. However, he believes the alcoholic beverage industry has significant growth potential, driven by lifestyle changes and increased consumption among the middle to upper class.
Moreover, there is a high demand for exports to Middle Eastern countries such as Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, and Kuwait.
Unfortunately, Roy pointed out, local beer producers like DLTA have not been able to tap into this vast market due to the negative investment list (DNI).
"On one hand, we implement very strict regulations, but on the other hand, we don't realize that our competitors in other countries, such as Vietnam and Thailand, are capturing the market that we cannot export to. This is the current challenge," he concluded.
The company hopes the government will remove beer from the blacklist. Roy stated that as long as the alcoholic beverage industry, including beer with an alcohol content below 5 percent, remains on the DNI, investment in the beer industry will continue to stagnate.
"We hope that if the government wants to gain greater foreign exchange, not only from the beverage industry, one concrete step that must be taken is to remove the beer industry from the negative investment list," Roy said.