Source: Jakarta Post
The Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Ministry has said the government was strongly committed to improving quality assurance and food safety for fish products to boost exports.
Improvements would be carried out throughout the overall process, including processing and distribution, as these were key to easing access to the global market, said Minister Sharif C. Sutardjo during a recent seminar on quality assurance and food safety for fish products in Kuta.
“Our efforts to improve quality assurance and food safety have resulted in an increase in both export value and volume of fish products this year,†he said.
During the first half of this year, the value of Indonesia’s fish exports reached USD 1.9 billion, a rise of 17.92 percent compared to the same period last year. Volume has increased 14.5 percent from 521,600 tons to 597,200 tons this year.
The increase in exports is also followed by a 26.32 percent increase in trade balance for fish products from USD 1.36 billion in 2011 to USD 1.72 billion this year.
In 2011, the export value of fish products reached USD 3.5 billion. Indonesia’s main markets are the US at USD 1.07 billion (30.4 percent), Japan with USD 806 million (22.9 percent), and Europe with 459.8 million (13.1 percent).
The minister said that the improvements were also aimed at helping exports reach this year’s target of USD 4.2 billion in value.
Next year, the ministry is targeting Indonesian National Standard (SNI) certification for 160 fish products, bringing the total of certified products to 483.
The improvements are also being applied to cultivated fish products, ensuring raw material to end product is free from contamination, as required by importing countries.
One of the ongoing efforts is the provision of technical assistance to 7,000 fish cultivation enterprises nationwide on good cultivation methods, as well as the monitoring of any chemical and biological contaminant residue.
“This effort has also had a positive impact as the number of cases of Indonesian fish products being rejected by the EU Commission has decreased from 14 cases last year to seven cases this year,†the minister said.
We are targeting an increase in added value and competitiveness of Indonesian fish products by modernizing the overall system and strengthening the capacity of the enterprises.
Meanwhile, fishery products from Bali are gaining ground in the global market, thanks to increasing variety and international certification.
Early this month, Bali exported smoked salmon to Malaysia, said the head of provincial fishery agency I Made Gunaja.
“This is the first time that Bali, and Indonesia, has exported this commodity. We don’t have salmon here, but we import it from Japan,†he said, explaining that the businessmen from Bali would only process the fish in Bali for export to Malaysia, as well as to Korea, China and the Middle East.
The largest fish export from Bali is tuna. Ninety percent of Bali’s tuna catch is exported, either fresh, frozen or canned.
In 2011, the export volume of fish from Bali reached 28,259 tons with a value of USD 124 million. During the first half of this year, export volume had reached 13,900 tons with a value of USD 59.2 million.