The Ministry of
Trade was optimistic that world’s market opportunity for agro business was
still wide open. This was an opportunity to grab for Indonesia’s agriculture
industry to market horticulture products like vegetables ad fruits. The export
market for agricultural products was low through 2014 as global economy slowed
down and some buyer countries like China, Japan and some European states
reduced their order. By 2015 there was growing confidence among domestic
businesspeople that Indonesian agro-business commodities would sell well.
The Director General of Domestic
Trading of the Ministry of Trade Srie Agustina stated in Jakarta on Monday
(15.6) that there was growing demand for Indonesian fruits and vegetables
although not sizable by volume. Srie stated that for the first 3 months of this
year Indonesia exported 290,300 tons of fruits and 13.200 tons of vegetables.
Export of both commodities was posted to increase against the first quarter of
last year. Through January-March 2014 Indonesia exported 222,000 tons of fruits
and 7,9000 tons of vegetables.
Therefore she said now farmers
should no only step up production by output, but also by quality and build
their own brand image. Beside export, the domestic market for horticulture products
was not less promising. The upper-middle segment should be the target market of
farmers.
Srie mentioned that export of fruits
and vegetables increased by 42.02% and 72.43% respectively in Q-1 of this year
against same period of 2014 (y o y). Over a period of 5 years (2010-2014) the
trend of increase was 13.20% for fruits and 2.8% for vegetables while the trend
of growth by volume was 0,52%.
Although export tend to increase,
Srie admitted that Indonesia imported fruits and vegetables more than exporting
them. Still srie was optimistic that the gap between import and export could be
minimized. Data of the Ministry of trade had it that increase was evident in
both import and export. By volume, import of horticulture products rose by
around 9% to become 1.31 million tons and by value the increase was around 9%
to become USD 1.42 billion against that of 2013.
Somehow to look at data of Q – 1 of
this year, import of fruits and vegetables was seen to decline. Apparently
import of fruits and vegetables in Q-1 of 2015 was 269,000 tons or down by
29.2% of the same period the year before. In terms of value, in Q-1 of this
year import of horticulture products was posted at USD 250,6 million or down by
around 28.8% of the same period at USD352,1 million.
The fruits and vegetable being
imported were among others apple, lemon, grapes, garlics and beans among others
from China, the USA and Thailand. The exported commodities were bananas,
manggistan, cabbage and some beans which were exported to among others
Pakistan, Vietnam, China, the Philippines and Singapore. (SS)
Business News - June 19, 2015
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