INDUSTRIAL REAL-ESTATE DEVELOPERS HAVE BEEN STEPPING UP BUILDING COLD STORAGE WAREHOUSES

The latest development of cold storage warehouse industry have enlivened by real estate developers as has happened in the Unites States, without tenants lined up for the space, betting the pandemic-driven changes in the way consumers buy groceries and meals are here to stay.

The growth in what is known in real estate as speculative construction follows an upheavel in consumers buying patterns during the Covid-19 pandemic as Americans rushed to buy groceries only and stocked up more on frozen foods where supermarkets chain and and food suppliers recast their supply chains to meet the demand.

New developers are entering the sector, which is considered something of a niche in the real-estate market because of the special demands of refrigerated warehousing.

For the real estate and passenger transportation industries in Indonesia have also entered the cold chain warehouse industry, which is integrated in providing frozen food delivery and storage services (middle to last mile). No less than Rp 2.1 billion per day, there is a shipment transaction value of frozen food delivery (last mile) that uses a temperature control system, and Rp 3.5 billion per day, a shipment transaction value of short distance delivery of ready-to-cook and ready-to-eat food without using a temperature control system (this is due to the cooling infrastructure).

Meanwhile, the growth of the frozen food and ready-to-eat food industry on the scale of SMEs has continued to grow above 20% per year since the Covid-19 pandemic.

Gradually, there has been a shift in that business units to the cold chain business in line with the global program for food security due to the extreme weather we are facing. Supply chain, distribution and storaging of perishable products become as a priority issue that has to be answered by having an appropriate cold chain system.