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Exports of food and beverages will grow by between 10 and 15
percent this year from the US$2 billion in earnings estimated for 2006,
the Indonesian Food and Beverage Producers Associations (GAPMI) says.
"It is only an interim estimation as we haven't completed all the
calculations for last year. However, the first six months of produced
more than $2 billion," association chairman Thomas Dharmawan told The
Jakarta Post on Tuesday.
"Export growth in the food and beverages sector is roughly the same
every year," he said, adding that the products most frequently exported
from Indonesia were processed foods, such as rice flour, wheat flour,
canned beef and canned fish.
While demand would likely stay steady, the increasing prices of these
commodities on the global market were the main reason behind the
forecast increase in export value.
In 2005, the value of food and beverage exports was recorded at $1.8
billion, a rise of 16 percent from the $1.5 billion recorded the
previous year.
The U.S., Europe and Japan are three of the country's main food and
beverage export markets, according to Thomas. A smaller portion of
exports are also sent to a number of African countries.
However, Indonesian food and beverage products face difficulties in
taking larger shares of their main markets in the U.S. and European
Union due to the high standards they set for products, Thomas added.
Meanwhile, to help boost exports, he said, the government needed to
send more trade missions abroad to introduce and promote Indonesian
products.
"Exhibitions are no longer effective in promoting products since there
have been too many of them held abroad," he said, adding that
Indonesia's main competitors in the industry were Thailand, Malaysia
and Vietnam.
He suggested that the government establish stores which specialize in
selling Indonesian products.
Trade Minister Mari Elka Pangestu has acknowledged the suggestion,
saying recently that she would try to work together with global chain
retailers, such as Carrefour and Giant, to promote Indonesian food and
beverages in the European Union market by using the in-store promotion
concept.
"There would be a kind of Indonesian week in these stores as a way of
promoting exports from this sector," she said as quoted by the Bisnis
Indonesia daily.
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