"Our (trade) balance is a surplus because our imports are only USD0.65 billion to USD0.7 billion," Head of the Marine and Fisheries Product Quality Control and Supervision Agency Ishartini said here on Thursday.
The fishery imports were made to fulfill the needs of hotels, restaurants, and cafes, which source fish that are not available in the country, she added.
The exports of Indonesian fishery products increased from USD4.86 billion in 2018 to USD5.63 billion in 2023. The highest exports were recorded in 2022 at USD6.24 billion.
The three largest export commodities were shrimp (USD1.73 billion); tuna, mackerel tuna, and skipjack tuna (USD927.1 million); and squid, cuttlefish, and octopus (USD762.5 million).
Meanwhile, imports were recorded at USD0.43 billion in 2018 and 2019. Last year, Indonesia imported fishery products worth USD0.65 billion.
Indonesia's main fishery imports were mackerel (USD136.9 million), salmon (USD76.49 million), and crab (USD72.08 million).
Ishartini said that the value of the global fisheries market reached USD184.5 billion in 2023. It recorded an average growth of three percent over the five years from 2018 to 2023. However, from 2022 to 2023, there was a decline of USD9.6 million, she added.
The top five global fisheries markets are the European Union, the United States, China, Japan, and Southeast Asia.
The European Union is a very promising market for the fisheries sector, therefore Indonesia must work on building the fisheries export market in the EU as best as possible, she said.
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Translator: Aji Cakti, Yashinta Difa
Editor: Rahmad Nasution
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