Director general of agro industry at the ministry, Putu Juli Ardika, said that this potential could be realized by optimizing the added economic value of products derived from seaweed, such as biostimulants, bioplastics, animal feed, nutraceuticals, alternative proteins, pharmaceuticals, and textiles.
"The product development and innovation are expected to improve the downstreaming of seaweed into potential products," he explained during a business meeting on seaweed processing on Tuesday.
To realize the fulfillment of market potential, his party has been consistently synergizing with ministries/institutions through program affirmations, as well as policies, in keeping with President Joko Widodo's direction to accelerate the downstreaming of the national seaweed industry, Ardika added.
In addition, the ministry is encouraging cooperation between the seaweed processing industry and user industries, implementing a domestic component level certification program (TKDN), and preparing machines or equipment restructuring programs for the sector.
According to Ardika, in the last 10 years, Indonesia has retained its dominance in exports of dried seaweed for consumption and industrial raw materials.
However, he informed, export sales of these products have not experienced significant growth, considering that 66.61 percent of Indonesia's seaweed exports are dominated by dried seaweed, while processed seaweed products, such as carrageenan and gelatin, still account for 33.39 percent of the total.
The market potential for processed seaweed products is considerable globally.
"In 2023, Indonesia was able to produce 10.7 million tons of wet seaweed. So far, processed seaweed is mostly used for food and beverage products, amounting to 77 percent, while only 23 percent is used for pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, and others," he pointed out.
He then said that the seaweed processing industry needs to be more adaptive to changes and market developments.
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Translator: Ahmad Muzdaffar F, Resinta Sulistiyandari
Editor: Azis Kurmala
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