Indonesia`s fish exports to Japan in 2010 were valued at around 700 million US dollars, Victor Nikijuluw, director general of aquaculture processing and marketing, said here Saturday.
The export value to Japan constituted 25 percent of the total exports of fish nationally which stood at 2.9 billion US dollars.
"The exports were halted for a couple of days in the aftermath of the earthquake and tsunami that had stricken Japan, but the shipments have been back to normal lately," he said.
Demand for fish in Japan is still high because its people mostly rely on fish consumption, according to Victor. Besides, in the aftermath of the massive earthquake and tsunami, Japan`s fish catch had dropped, he added.
The natural disasters had indeed affected several commodity exports, but not fish, he said.
"To meet the demands by importing countries, we are trying to increase the volume of fish catch," he said, adding that the fishing target would be the eastern Indonesian waters believed to have huge potential of marine products.
Indonesia`s fish products are recorded at 5.8 million tons annually and the figure would be increased further to boost exports.
Japan mostly imports tuna and shrimp from Indonesia, he said.
The tuna export volume reaches 400 tons per week.
(Uu.F001/HAJM)
Editor: Priyambodo RH
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