Jakarta, May 21, 2014 (ANTARA) -- Even though that the Indonesia pearl has an incredible economical potential, and Indonesia has already been the world's largest south sea pearl (SSP) producer since 2005, but the fact tells that the commodity is not extensively known in the international pearl business. Indonesia claims to yield up to 50% of the world's pearl production, with the export value hits US$ 29 million. The Government of Indonesia is therefore planning and striving to boost such an achievement given that Indonesia masters all the factors to do; the pearl farming area, the human and natural resources, the support devices and technology.

Sharif C. Sutardjo, the Minister of Marine Affairs and Fisheries, says, "The government partnering with the private sectors make a number of initiatives aiming to drive the value added pearl induztrialization, one of those initiaves is the Indonesian Pearl Festival (IPF) which will be held on August 27-29 in Jakarta. In addition, to educate the society on the pearl, the Government also has published the Indonesian South Sea Pearl on last September, which is the first-ever book on the south sea pearl.

Sharif continues, "On the global pearl trade, Indonesia is ranked no.9 or 2.07% of the total pearl export value of US$ 1.4 billion. The destination countries and regions include Japan, Hong Kong, Australia, South Korea, Thailand, Switzerland, India, New Zealand and France."

The Ministry's Director General of Fisheries Product Marketing and Processing, Saut P. Hutagalung, explains that the world pearl market is dominated by four main types of pearl; South Sea Pearl, produced by Indonesia, Australia, the Philippines and Myanmar; Fresh Water Pearl, produced by China; Akoya Pearl, produced by Japan and China; Black Pearl, produced by Tahiti.

"As the technology and the natural resource increase, Indonesia leads the world's pearl industry and has successfully been the largest south sea pearl producer since 2005," concluded Saut.

For more information, please contact:

Anang Noegroho
Head of Statistic and Data Center
The Ministry of Marine Affairs and Fisheries
+62-21-351-9070



Editor: PR Wire
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