Gudang Garam
Gudang Garam (German salt warehouse) is an Indonesian clove cigarette brand ( Kretek ).
history
The Kretek manufacturer Gudang Garam was founded on June 26, 1958 by Tjoa Ing Hwie (1923–1985). Born in China, he emigrated with his family to Indonesia at the age of four, where he later took the name Surya Wonowidjojo.
At the end of his twenties, Wonowidjojo was offered a job in the Kretek Cap 93 factory by his uncle . Cap 93 was once considered to be one of the best-known cigarette brands in Jawa Timur (East Jawa). There he quickly made his way up to corporate management. With the intention of founding his own company, Wonowidjojo left Cap 93 in 1956 with 50 employees. After purchasing raw materials and land in Kediri , he produced his own clove cigarettes under the name Inghwie. Two years later, the company was renamed Pabrik Rokok Tjap Gudang Garam (German: cigarette factory brand Gudang Garam).
The company grew rapidly. In 1958, Gudang Garam employed around 500 people and produced more than 50 million kreteks annually. Eight years later it was more than 472 million and in 1969 over 864 million. Thus Gudang Garam was considered to be the largest producer of clove cigarettes in Indonesia. In 2001 the number of cigarettes produced was more than 70 billion. Today the company has more than 40,000 employees. While filterless kreteks are still being turned by hand today, machine production of filter cigarettes began in 1979, mainly for the foreign market.
Since 1984 the company has been running Wonowidjojo's son Rachman Halim (born Tjoa To Hing, 1947–2008), who was considered the richest Indonesian until his death. After his death, his brother Susilo Wonowidjojo took over the management of the company.
The 1998 economic crisis in Asia hit Gudang Garam as well. Although the company lost large market shares as a result, Gudang Garam is still considered one of the most popular clove cigarette brands in the world. In Europe in particular, their kreteks enjoyed increasing popularity. Due to the strict EC directives with regard to maximum values for cigarettes, products specially made for the western market have been manufactured that comply with these values.
Today the company is one of the three largest cigarette manufacturers in Indonesia (35% market share, in 2005 clove cigarettes made up 92% of the market share) and one of the ten largest worldwide. The main competitor is the manufacturer Djarum . While Gudang Garam was considered the leader in the field of clove cigarettes in Europe, its competitor Djarum has a market share of 70% in the USA.
According to the new EU Tobacco Directive (TPD2), the sale of Gudang Garam has been banned in Germany since May 20, 2016. The reason given was that these clove cigarettes would be more tempting to smoke because of their sweet taste. This ban will come into force in 2020 for menthol cigarettes .
Most popular products
- Gudang Garam International (also Gudang Garam Filter): popular variety in Indonesia, with a filter, slightly shorter than GG Surya
- Gudang Garam Merah: the most popular brand in Indonesia, filterless with 38 mg tar and 2.2 mg nicotine per cigarette
- Gudang Garam Signature: the international standard brand, with cinnamon. Initially, the brand still had a sweetened filter.
- Gudang Garam Surya: a lighter, but also less substantial variant (with filter)
- Gudang Garam Menthol: the menthol variant of Kretek
There are also other products that vary in taste and strength.
Web links
- Official site (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ http://www.gudanggaramtbk.com/company/index.php?act=history ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Archive link ( Memento of the original dated May 24, 2006 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ http://www.forbes.com/static/bill2005/LIRRLFW.html?passListId=10&passYear=2005&passListType=Person&uniqueId=RLFW&datatype=Person
- ↑ www.nelkenzigaretten.de ( Memento from December 6, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) in the web archive
- ↑ Archive link ( Memento of the original dated May 3, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
