Indonesian fruit exports rise in Q1-2018
Sarwo Edhy, Director of Fruits at the Directorate General for Horticulture in Indonesia's Agriculture Ministry, is optimistic that foreign demand for Indonesian fruit will remain high in the next couple of quarters. He added that the government has been busy to improve the data collection and monitoring process for the production and export of fruit. Hence, the full-year 2018 data will be much more accurate.
Besides rising demand from abroad, Edhy also detected rising domestic demand for local fruit. This must be related to the 2012 central government policy that curtails imports of foreign fruit. In 2012 the Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono administration ordered that all imported fruit products must be inspected in a registered laboratory. A side-effect of this regulation was that foreign fruit became less competitive on the Indonesian market. As each batch of fruit products must be inspected before being allowed to enter the Indonesian market, there occurred additional costs that had to be borne by the (foreign) product owner.
Indonesia-investments.com quoted Eddy Simon, Chairman of the Association of Indonesian Fresh Vegetables and Fruits Importers and Exporters (Aseibssindo), as saying Indonesian fruit exports are currently being undermined by logistic bottlenecks. These logistics issues have a direct -and negative- impact on the quality of the fruits. Hence, he urges the government to overcome logistics problems.
