Indonesia is preparing to expand durian exports to China following discussions between Minister of Transmigration Muhammad Iftitah Sulaiman Suryanagara and Chinese Ambassador to Indonesia Wang Lutong. The Chinese government is expected to act as an offtaker for Indonesian durian production, providing an outlet for increased volumes from transmigration areas.
"The main issue in transmigration is that when we increase productivity, the question is who will absorb the output. Therefore, the Chinese government is positioning itself as an offtaker, one of which is as a consumer of durian," Suryanagara said.
Initial exports will focus on frozen durian, with plans to move into fresh durian shipments. "Going forward, we will seek to export fresh durian, as that is what the Chinese people expect. They want fresh durians," he added.
Indonesia has production capacity across several regions, including Parigi Moutong in Central Sulawesi, which is identified as one of the country's main durian-producing areas.
In addition to durian, coconut was also discussed as part of the cooperation. "In addition, we also discussed coconut consumers. If annual demand for durian is around Rp120 trillion (US$7.50 billion), for coconuts it is around Rp110 trillion per year (US$6.88 billion). China needs 4 billion coconuts annually, while it can only meet about 1 billion. So there is still a gap of around 3 billion coconuts," he said.
Indonesia is positioned to supply part of this demand through available land and labour in transmigration areas.
Source: Business Today
