Daewoong Pharmaceutical has joined a government-led public-private task force supporting entry into Indonesia, aiming to respond to the country's mandatory halal certification system taking effect in October and to strengthen its push into the local market.
The company said on the 25th that it attended a business roundtable for companies entering Indonesia, hosted by the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety in Jakarta last month. The roundtable was arranged to support the local expansion and exports of Korean pharmaceutical, biotech and cosmetics firms.
At the meeting, Daewoong discussed key regulations with officials from Indonesia's Food and Drug Authority (BPOM) and the Halal Product Assurance Agency (BPJPH), including import clearance requirements, ingredient safety assessments, halal labeling and the timeline for the mandate.
Indonesian authorities shared their direction for operating the system going forward, including requirements for labeling and managing halal and non-halal products. They also reaffirmed that a halal certificate issued by a Korean institution party to a mutual recognition agreement (MRA) will carry the same effect once it goes through local registration. The Ministry of Food and Drug Safety asked local authorities to ease the burden of on-site inspections at certified plants and to extend the grace period for products already in distribution.
Daewoong plans to respond to halal certification in stages, starting with cosmetics and health functional foods and moving to pharmaceuticals. Ahead of October 2034, when the halal mandate takes effect for prescription drugs (ETC), the company is building a Cikarang solid-dose smart factory in Indonesia with a target of GMP approval in July 2027. The plant is being built with halal certification in mind from the initial design stage.
"Based on our manufacturing and import infrastructure and our halal management capabilities, we will expand our push into the ASEAN market," said Lee So-yoon, head of Daewoong Pharmaceutical's regulatory and patent center.
