Facing COVID-19, Agriculture Ministry Reviews Alternative Export Markets for Plantation Commodities

This step is taken in anticipation of the decreasing demand from China for exports of Indonesian plantation commodities in 2020. Kasdi explained that this is because China is currently restricting the movement of goods from and to China. This restriction is implemented to prevent the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic caused by the corona virus. He added that in addition to focusing on increasing production, the Ministry of Agriculture will also seek alternative export destination markets. "This is a follow-up of the instructions from the Minister of Agriculture, Syahrul Yasin Limpo, that the agricultural sector must be the most resilient sector in facing various crises," he said as quoted in a written statement received by Kompas.com on Thursday (March 2, 2020). It is known that this country nicknamed “The Bamboo Curtain” is one of Indonesia's largest trading partners in the export of plantation commodities. These commodities include palm oil, coconut, cocoa, rubber, coffee, tea, pepper, nutmeg, cloves, and cinnamon. Six strategies from the Ministry of Agriculture Furthermore, Kasdi said that his agency has prepared six main strategies to strengthen Indonesian plantation exports in the midst of the Covid–19 pandemic. The first strategy is trade lobby with new partner countries. This includes seeking direct exports for commodities that have previously been re-exported through China. "Secondly, we will conduct a lobby for import duty agreements in destination countries and provide bilateral trade facilitation, such as for sugar, vanaspati ghee and other commodities," he said. Third, improve guarantees for quality, brand image, and ongoing product availability. The fourth strategy, continued Kasdi, is to seek increased trade cooperation for market access. This can be done by optimizing the use of Indonesian representatives abroad, accelerating ongoing cooperation, and of course developing new agreements. For example, he explained, based on his analysis, China's absorption for palm oil this year is predicted to decrease.

"To anticipate this, we will encourage an increase in palm oil exports to India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh by 20 percent and to the United States by 5 percent," he said. In addition, the export is also carried out to Tunisia, Turkey, Egypt, Algeria, Morocco and Iran which have increased by 10 percent. The target for domestic consumption is to increase by 5 percent. The fifth strategy, Kasdi continued, is that his party will increase domestic consumption, such as the B-30 program for Crude Palm Oil (CPO), rubber asphalt for rubber, coffee, coconut sugar, and other commodities. Then the sixth is the optimization of information and communication network services in an organized manner between business to business (B to B) and government to government (G to G). Meanwhile, for rubber exports in 2020, Kasdi said that he had prepared targets for an increase and alternative destination countries for rubber exports other than China.

"We will encourage exports to Germany and France with a significant increase of 10 percent. The United States and Argentina by 10 percent, Japan and South Korea increased by 7.5 percent, South Africa up to 2.5 percent, and for domestic consumption we are targeting an increase of 5 percent," he said.

https://money.kompas.com/read/2020/04/02/122304826/imbas-covid-19-kementan-kaji-alternatif-pasar-ekspor-komoditas-perkebunan