Main fishery export commodities include shrimp with a value of US$1,997.49 million, skipjack tuna worth US$865.73 million, and squid-cuttlefish-octopus US$657.71 million.
Heaptalk, Jakarta — The export value of fisheries for the January-November 2022 period reached US$5.71 billion, an increase of 10.66% compared to the same period in 2021. Meanwhile, the import value during that period was only US$0.64 billion.
“That means there is still a surplus in the trade balance of fishery products of US$5.07 billion,” explained Acting Director General of Strengthening the Competitiveness of Maritime and Fishery Products (PDSPKP), Ministry of Marine Affairs and Fisheries (KKP) Ishartini in a written statement. The achievement of fishery exports is estimated to reach a value of US$6.22 billion until December 2022, to grow 8.84% compared to the same period in 2021.
In more detail, major export commodities include shrimp with a value of US$1,997.49 million, skipjack tuna worth US$865.73 million, squid-cuttlefish-octopus US$657.71 million, seaweed with US$554.96 million, and crab US$450.55 million.
The main export destination countries for these commodities include the United States worth US$2.15 billion (37.63%), China US$1.02 billion (17.90%), Japan US$678.13 million (11.89%), ASEAN US$651.66 million (11.42%) and 27 European Union countries valued at US$357.12 million (6.26%).
Ishartini acknowledged that the dynamics of global conditions, including the Russia-Ukraine war, had a significant impact on Indonesia’s fishery exports. Nevertheless, KKP carried out several efforts to maintain market share in the main export destination countries. In addition, the ministry is also exploring the prospective market in the Middle East, spanning providing Hajj and Umrah catering services in Saudi Arabia.
“We are looking for alternative opportunities other than established markets, this is a response to the global dynamics that have occurred since the beginning of 2022 which has certainly affected the smooth flow of goods,” said Ishartini.
Further, to encourage exports, Ishartini asked her staff to socialize with business people about the agreement on trade agreements between Indonesia and several European countries, including Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, and Switzerland which are members of the European-Free Trade Association (EFTA) through the Indonesia-European Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (IE-CEPA).
The government has also entered into a cooperation to reduce tariffs for fresh tuna, crab, and frozen shrimp through the Indonesia-Mozambique Preferential Trade Agreement (IM-PTA). In addition, there is also the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), which is a free trade negotiation between ASEAN countries and 5 partner countries, namely Japan, South Korea, China, Australia, and New Zealand.
The ministry also carried out promotional activities to present Indonesian fishery products with the tagline “Indonesia Seafood: Naturally Diverse” and the sub-tagline “Safe and Sustainable” at various international exhibitions and meetings. Several export commodities have their product branding, spanning:
- Indonesian Seaweed, Natural Binding Solutions to The World
- Indonesian Pangasius, The Better Choice
- Indonesian Tuna, Sustainable by Tradition: One-by-One
- Indonesian Shrimp, Discover The Taste of 17,000 Islands
Investment interest in the fisheries sector increased by 45.62%
“The thriving exports have also had a positive impact on investment interest in the marine and fisheries sector,” said Ishartini. Investment realization in Q3 2022 reached Rp6.39 trillion, an increase of 45.62% compared to Q3 2021, and spread to several areas, including East Java, DKI Jakarta, South Sulawesi, and Central Java.
Ishartini added that the People’s Republic of China is the largest country investing in the marine and fisheries sector, followed by Singapore, the British Virgin Islands, and Japan. She explained, “We estimate that investment realization will exceed Rp7.78 trillion, an increase of 29.71% compared to the previous year in December 2022.”
On the micro side, KKP has also disbursed people’s business credit (KUR) of Rp9.02 trillion as of November 2022 and is targeted to reach Rp9.7 trillion at the end of the year. After obtaining capital from KUR, 38.6% of business actors were able to add new workers. Then 83.16% of business actors were able to scale up their production volume and 90.08% of business actors could increase their monthly turnover.
“This cannot be separated from various activities, including implementation of technical guidance on access to finance which has been held in 53 locations and involved 4,240 marine and fisheries MSMEs. We are optimistic that by the end of 2022, we can obtain higher achievements compared to 2021,” concluded Ishartini.
Previously, the Minister of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Sakti Wahyu Trenggono emphasized that the KKP established holistic policies from upstream to downstream in the development of Indonesian fishery products to increase national and global competitiveness. Minister Trenggono also instructed his staff to improve the export performance of fishery products.
