The 2012 figure would be slightly higher than in 2011 when exports in the January-November period totaled only 327,493 tons with the US, Japan and Germany their main destinations.
"Exports this year will not exceed 400,000 tons because production has tended to remain stagnant," said Hutama Sugandhi, chairman of the Indonesian Coffee Exporters Association (GAEKI), here Wednesday.
The figure was about the same as the annual average over the past 10 years as the area and productivity of coffee plantations in the country had virtually not increased.
The total coffee plantation area in Indonesia was 1.2 million hectares with 90 percent of it managed by farmers who mostly followed traditional cultivation methods.
"They do not yet use technology so their productivity is low," he said.
Indonesian coffee plantations` productivity now stood at only 700 kg per hectare but it could be increased to 1.5 tons per hectare though intensification programs, he said.
But the government also needed to facilitate the expansion of the coffee plantation area to step up domestic coffee production because the lands assigned to expansion of coffee plantations were mostly located in areas with inadequate infrastructure, Hutama said.
Additional areas for coffee plantations should be planted with Arabica coffee which was still being produced in a relatively small volume.
Most of the coffee produced by Indonesia was Robusta coffee (85 percent) with Arabica coffee accounting for only 15 percent whereas the latter was priced three times higher than Robusta coffee, he said.
Today, Robusta coffee was priced 2,0-2,5 US dollars per kg but Arabica coffee 7-8 US dolars per kilogram. (*)
Editor: Kunto Wibisono
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