Indonesia’s fishery products are still hampered with tariff barriers to compete with other countries in the European Union and the Middle East, Antara news agency reported.
“The tariff barriers were in the form of high import duties that caused the competitiveness of Indonesia’s fishery products to become low,†Overseas Marketing Director of the Maritime and Fisheries Affairs Ministry, Saut P Hutagalung, said here on Friday.
He said that there were several European and Middle East countries which imposed high tariff rates on Indonesia’s exports. This caused Indonesia’s fishery exports to face difficulties to compete with those coming from competitor countries like Vietnam, Thailand and China.
At present, European Union nations imposed 24 percent import duty on canned tuna and 12 percent on fresh tuna, he said.
A high tariff rate which reached 40 percent is being imposed by Iran on Indonesia’s canned fish products.
“We are now trying to cooperate with European Union. Recently, during President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono’s visit to Brussels, the president asked Indonesia’s counterpart to lower their tariff rates on its fishery products,†Hutagalung said.
In the meantime, chairman of the Indonesian Fishery Society (MPN), Shidiq Moeslim acknowledged that Indonesia’s fishery products, particularly canned tuna, were still liable to high tariff rates when they enter Europe.
