New coffee brews to perk up market share

COFFEE and convenience food maker Super Coffeemix Marketing Sdn Bhd is going all out this year to garner a bigger slice of the market share in Malaysia by launching up to three new products into the market by year-end. Super Coffeemix Marketing is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Singapore-based Super Coffeemix Manufacturing Ltd which is also listed on the Singapore Stock Exchange and is one of Asia's top 10 coffeemakers.

Super Coffeemix director Steven K.H. Lim said the company launched several new products into the Malaysian market every year as part of its strategy to increase its current market share of 14 per cent as well as bolster its "Super" brand name."There is enormous growth potential for the company as the instant coffee market in Malaysia alone is worth RM700 million a year," Lim told Business Times at the company's factory in Mukim Plentong in Masai, Johor, last Friday.

Lim said the company goes on aggressive advertising and promotional activities every year, spending 13 per cent of revenue in local advertisements which include in newspapers and televisions."We plan to launch two to three products by year-end such as no-sugar-added coffee, reduced-sugar coffee (by 25 per cent), new coffee variants, coffee plus cream, three-in-one coffee and others.

"Lim said the company is all set for double-digit growth in the future, riding on the taste buds of coffee drinkers from its export market of over 60 countries.He added that Super Coffee will also build a RM10 million factory this year at its existing site which will be the most modern coffee plant in Malaysia.

Established in 1987, Super Coffeemix which was listed in 1994, registered its sixth consecutive revenue which increased by 18 per cent to S$300.2 million (RM732.16) in financial year ended December 2008.The world's largest coffee maker is Nescafe, which is grouped under Swiss food giant Nestle.

Nescafe has a 30 per cent market share in Malaysia.Super Coffeemix owns and operates a total of 13 factories, of which three are in Singapore, Malaysia (5), China (3) and one each in Thailand and Myanmar.Its 10.1ha factory in Masai is its largest in Malaysia with an annual output of 8,000 tonnes of coffee products a year or equivalent to 4 billion cups of coffee a year.

Apart from coffee products which accounts for 67 per cent of its 300 over products, Super Coffeemix also makes other food products and beverages such as canned drinks, cup noodles, ready-to-drink cereals, potato chips, liquid concentrates, vinegar and others all under the multi award-winning brand name "Super".

The company, which employs over 500 workers, sources its raw materials of mainly coffee beans from Vietnam, Indonesia, Brazil and Columbia.It then exports instant coffee power, coffee products and other food items to over 60 countries and derives 90 per cent of its income from the overseas market.