We should be grateful that the fishery sector during this pandemic is still performing wellJakarta (ANTARA) - The exports of marine and fisheries commodities continued to record positive performance during the pandemic, according to the Ministry of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries (KKP).
"We should be grateful that the fishery sector during this pandemic is still performing well," KKP's Director General for Strengthening the Competitiveness of Marine and Fishery Products (PDSPKP) Artati Widiarti said at a press conference here, Wednesday.
According to Widiarti, Indonesia's ranking has improved, from 10th position in the global fisheries market in 2016, to 8th position in 2020.
She explained that the number of Indonesian fishery product exports during the January-October 2021 period had reached US$4.56 billion, an increase of 6.6 percent from the corresponding period in the previous year.
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Meanwhile, commodity-wise, the export value of shrimp increased by 7.7 percent, crabs increased by 62.2 percent, and seaweed increased by 17.1 percent.
Based on the projection, she believes the export value of fishery products will reach US$5.45 billion in 2021, an increase of 4.81 percent from that in 2020.
Meanwhile, the import value of fishery products during the same period amounted to US$400 billion, with Indonesia experiencing a trade balance surplus of US$4.15 billion.
Meanwhile, the export target countries are the United States (US$2.05 billion, or 45 percent of the total exports), China (US$682 million, or 15-percent contribution), Japan (US$503 million; 11 percent), ASEAN countries (US$423 million; nine percent), and the European Union region (US$259 million; six percent).
The KKP earlier introduced several websites to promote Indonesian fishery products: Indonesia Seafood (indonesiaseafood.id) and Indonesian Shrimp (indonesianshrimp.org/beta).
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"Indonesia can play a bigger role in the supply chain of the world's fishery products, given the increasing demand for seafood in line with the shift to a healthier lifestyle," KKP Minister Sakti Wahyu Trenggono remarked.
Moreover, Trenggono noted that the KKP had various breakthrough programs in place to boost the productivity and quality of domestic fishery products, such as increasing Non-Tax State Revenue (PNBP) from fisheries natural resources through measured capture policies, developing aquaculture to increase exports supported by marine research and fisheries, as well as building villages for the cultivation of fishery commodities based on local wisdom.
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Through this breakthrough program, the KKP encourages the growth of the fishing industry from upstream to downstream, as well as opens investment opportunities for domestic and foreign fishery business actors in Indonesia.
Apart from optimizing the use of technology, the minister highlighted the importance of intensifying cooperation with other countries to expand the market reach of Indonesian fishery products.
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Translator: M Razi, Azis Kurmala
Editor: Fardah Assegaf
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