Indonesia’s Export Portfolio Expands to Include Tuna Shipments to South Korea

JAKARTA, KOMPAS.com – Indonesia’s export portfolio underwent an expansion as it begins shipping tuna fish to South Korea.

The expansion of Indonesian export commodities was the byproduct of cooperation between the Indonesian Ministry of Trade and the Indonesian Ministry of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries concerning the supply chain system in Benoa, Bali.

“Similar to what has been implemented in the agricultural sector, the SRG has the objective to offer an alternative solution for fishermen’s common challenges. Among those are the fluctuating price of fish and limited access to financing,” explained Indonesia’s Minister of Trade, Agus Suparmanto.

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Agus added that as a maritime nation, the fisheries and maritime sectors have an integral role within the national economy which is reflected in the sectors’ contributions to Indonesian export commodities.

“The Ministry of Trade will continue to support national economic recovery efforts. The Covid-19 pandemic has added immense burden to business owners particularly those in agriculture, farming, animal husbandry, and fisheries.”

Through the supply chain system, the country’s fishermen are given a possible solution in resolving financing matters especially when there is a drop in demand in the domestic and overseas markets.

The Head of the Commodity fisheries Trading Authority, Sidharta Utama, shared that business owners in the manufacture and trade of the fishery sector can take advantage of the SRG scheme as a financing instrument to absorb fish commodities from fishermen.

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“The implementation of the SRG has widened in scope to include fisheries thus bringing about enormous benefits to the national economy, especially with national economic recovery efforts during the pandemic.”

Data from Indonesia’s Trade Ministry puts the total number of fish exports from Indonesia to South Korea in the past five years at $51.12 million in 2015, $43.05 million in 2016, $39.08 million in 2017, $52.83 million in 2018, and $55.03 million in 2019.

Indonesia’s export portfolio from January to September 2020 was worth $39.9 million, up 3.07 percent compared to year-on-year figures.

(Writer: Akhdi Martin Pratama | Editor: Bambang P. Jatmiko)

Source: https://money.kompas.com/read/2020/11/27/171103126/indonesia-ekspor-ikan-tuna-ke-korea-selatan