The government is working to facilitate Indonesian business players in their effort to expand business overseas by improving logistics interconnection with cities worldwide to boost national exports.

 

Such policy is evidence with the export of agriculture and fishery products using national flag carrier Garuda Indonesia’s direct flight from Samratulangi Airport in North Sulawesi to Narita Airport in Tokyo, Japan.

 

Until 2022, through Samratulangi Airport, the export of agriculture and fishery products is targeted to reach 1,000 tons to Japan. “This export to Japan is a cooperation between the central government, the regional administration, the State-Owned Enterprises [SOEs], business players and all stakeholders as a form to expand the market for North Sulawesi’s products, especially to Japan,” Trade Ministry director general for National Export Development Didi Sumedi said in a statement.

  

On Wednesday. Nov. 10, directorate general and North Sulawesi’s Industry Office witnessed the export of 15 tons of agriculture and fishery products worth USD90,000 to Japan.

 

Didi said the Ministry of Trade is committed to continuing to increase exports of potential products and services through various promotional activities, capacity building for export businesses, product development, branding, export training, export market information, business exploration and various other programs. This is done to maintain a trade balance surplus.

 

Meanwhile, director of Export Development Cooperation Marolop Nainggolan said this export was a form of socialization of the use of Garuda Indonesia's direct flight route from Samratulangi to Narita airport in Japan. This is expected to attract foreign buyers to conduct business cooperation with business actors in the region. Thus, it can improve the regional economy, he said.

 

"We hope that the exports this time can also expand the dissemination of information on direct flight route facilities for cargo from Manado to Japan. So, more business actors can take advantage of it and succeed in realizing 1.000 tons of exports from Manado to Japan until 2022," added Marolop.

 

On this occasion, Marolop said, the Ministry of Trade along with the Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO) agreed to collaborate to increase exports of Indonesian products, especially fisheries to the Japanese market. This was realized by organizing a webinar for business players with the theme "Market Potential of Fishery Products to the Japanese Market" in Manado, North Sulawesi, on Thursday (11/11).

 

The webinar presented experts from Japan Shinpei Sasaki, JETRO Jakarta senior director Hojo and JETRO Jakarta Project executive Arif.

 

Marolop said the webinar aims to explore the potential, market opportunities, barriers and obstacles in developing exports of fishery products, in particular encouraging the export of fishery products from North Sulawesi Province to the Japanese market. Thus, negotiations and trade contracts can occur in the future which will also increase the value of Indonesia's non-oil and gas exports.

 

According to Marolop, the webinar was held in North Sulawesi because it is one of the best regions producing Indonesian fishery export products, such as tuna, seaweed, squid, shrimp, ornamental fish and others. In addition, not only being a trading hub in Eastern Indonesia, North Sulawesi is also able to directly export regional superior products from Manado to Japan.

 

"Together with JETRO in this forum we want to discuss readiness to meet the demand for marine and fishery products from Japanese buyers. Based on ITC Trademap 2020 data, Japan is the 3rd largest importer after the United States and China with an import value of USD10.5 billion in 2020," explained Marolop.

 

Based on data from the Ministry of Trade, Indonesia's fishery product exports to the global market for the January-August 2021 period were recorded at USD 2.46 billion, an increase of 4.05 percent compared to the same period the previous year. The main export destination countries for Indonesian fishery products include the United States with a share of 37.51 percent, China (20.79 percent), Japan (10.71 percent), (Vietnam 3.94 percent) and Malaysia (3.18 percent).

 

Aside from facilitating exports to Japan, the government also works to boost export to other destination countries, one of which is to the Middle East region. The facilitation was made through education on export opportunities for Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) delivered through a webinar on Indonesia-Middle East Trade Potential "From Jeddah To Dubai" held by the Export School on Thursday (11/11).

 

Present as resource persons were head of the Indonesian Trade Promotion Center (ITPC) Jeddah Saudi Arabia Muhammad Rivai Abbas and head of ITPC Dubai UAE Muhammad Khomaini. The activity was moderated by the head of the Export School, Handito Joewono.

 

In his presentation, Rivai said, Saudi Arabia has a population of 34.71 million people. Of this number, they are divided into three target markets, namely, the regular market with 21 million people or 70 percent, the expatriate market with 14 million people, and the haj and umrah market.

 

“Regular markets are indigenous people, the main destination for Indonesian products. This means that when Indonesian products are accepted in the regular market, the consumption of Indonesian products will run stable and sustainably,” said Rivai.

 

However, Rivai continued, no less important is the haj and umrah market. The haj and umrah market is an opportunity to introduce Indonesian products. In 2020, a memorandum of understanding (MoU) was signed between the Ministry of Trade, Ministry of Religious Affairs, Ministry of Cooperatives and SMEs and Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Kadin). The MoU is related to optimizing the fulfillment of the needs of Indonesian pilgrims in Saudi Arabia.

 

In this MoU, providers of products or services related to the needs of Indonesian pilgrims for Haj and Umrah are required to use Indonesian products, especially MSME products. Indonesian products that have potential for Haj and Umrah needs include clothing, hospitality, food, cosmetics, bags and shoes," Rivai explained.

 

Rivai said, in general, products entering Saudi Arabia must be registered. For food and drug products, they must go through the Saudi Food and Drugs Authority (SFDA) certification, while other products must be registered with the Saudi Arabian Standards Organization (SASO).

 

“Products entering the Saudi Arabian market must be registered by the Saudi Arabian importer or buyer. In addition, it is also necessary to pay attention to when entering the Saudi Arabian market, namely regarding intellectual property rights regarding trademarks so that there are no disputes in the country," Rivai said, adding that currently Saudi Arabia is running the Saudi Vision 2030 program.

 

This policy is a strategic framework for reducing Saudi Arabia's dependence on oil, diversifying its economy, and developing public service sectors such as health, education, infrastructure, recreation and tourism.

 

“The Saudi Arabian market is an open market, meaning that products must compete in terms of price, quality, and sustainability because all countries in the world are trying to enter the Saudi Arabian market. For this reason, Indonesian exporters must prepare their products so that they can compete in the Saudi Arabian market for the long term,” Rivai explained. (KH)