JAKARTA (16/8) – The Covid-19 pandemic is claimed to be the main cause of disruption to world trade today, including trade in fishery products where the total value of global exports of fishery products reached USD 152 billion or down 7% compared to 2019. However, at this time all major exporters Fishery products also experienced a decline in export value. The good news is that exports of Indonesian fishery products have actually increased and Indonesia has risen 2 places to be in 8th position as the world’s main exporter of fishery products in 2020.
Based on data released by ITC Trademap, the export value of Indonesian fishery products in 2020 reached USD5.2 billion or positive growth of 5.7% compared to 2019. In contrast to Indonesia, most of the world’s main exporters of fishery products experienced quite significant declines compared to 2019 , such as China down 7.8%, Norway down 7.5%, Vietnam down 2.1%, India down 15.1%, Thailand down 2.2%, and Ecuador down 1.5%
Director General of Strengthening the Competitiveness of Marine and Fishery Products (PDSPKP), Artati Widiarti, said that the increase in the ranking of Indonesian exporters was an extraordinary achievement as a result of intensive collaboration between exporters, the government and all stakeholders involved.
“Indonesia, which has abundant fisheries resources, has moved to supply nutritious fishery products which are really needed by the global community during the Covid-19 pandemic. The increase in Indonesia’s ranking as the world’s main exporter is the hard work of exporters, the government and all stakeholders involved who together “We work together to work together to rise during this pandemic,” said Artati when conveying developments in exports of Indonesian fishery products in Jakarta (15/8/2021).
On the same occasion, Artati also explained that the United States, Japan and China are still the main export destinations for world fishery products with an average export value in 2016-2020 of USD 23.08 billion, USD 15.26 billion and USD 13.80 billion respectively. . During this period, the import trend of the United States and China tended to be positive with an increase of 2.5% and 15.5% respectively, while Japan’s imports decreased by 1.4%. Furthermore, the market share of Indonesian fishery products in the three main markets in question increased by 4.6%, 1.3% and 6.2%.
If we look at the commodity based on ITC Trademap data, shrimp is still the leading commodity, followed by tuna – skipjack (TCT) and squid – cuttlefish – octopus (CSG), crab – crab and seaweed. During 2020, the export value of Indonesian shrimp reached USD2.04 billion or 8.8% of the total world shrimp import value. Meanwhile, TCT amounted to USD724 million (5.0%), CSG amounted to USD509 million (6.0%), Crab – Crab amounted to USD368 million (6.8%) and Seaweed amounted to USD280 million (11.4%).
Marketing Director, Directorate General of PDSPKP KKP, Machmud, revealed that this performance refers to temporary data from the Central Statistics Agency (BPS) 480 8-digit HS code for fishery products.
“Cumulatively for the January – June 2021 period, the export value of fishery products reached USD 2.6 billion or an increase of 7.3% compared to the same period in 2020 with a trade balance surplus of USD 2.3 billion or an increase of 6.4% compared to the same period last year “Previously. Meanwhile, by the end of this year, the export value of fishery products is targeted at USD6.05 billion. So this June, 43 percent of this year’s target has been achieved,” explained Machmud.
Machmud said that the export value of fishery products in June 2021 reached USD464.2 million or an increase of 24.3% compared to May 2021. This figure also increased 17.7% compared to the same period the previous year.
“This shows that the marine and fisheries sector can be an economic lever as well as an opportunity during the pandemic,” he continued.
The destination countries for fishery commodity exports include the United States (US), which recorded transactions of USD 1.1 billion or 44.4% of the total export value. Followed by China at USD382.9 million or 14.8% of the total export value and Japan at USD278.9 million (10.8%). Then ASEAN countries amounted to USD270.1 million (10.4%), the European Union amounted to USD132.0 million (5.1%), and Australia amounted to USD55.2 million (2.1%).
“From this data it can also be seen that our products are being sought after by developed countries,” explained Machmud.
Machmud explained that shrimp is Indonesia’s main export commodity. The export value of this commodity reached USD 1 billion or 40.1% of the total export value. Then Tuna – Cakalang – Tuna amounted to USD 334.7 million (12.9%), Squid – Cuttlefish – Octopus amounted to USD 268.6 million (10.4%), Crab – Crabs amounted to USD 256.6 million (9.9%), Seaweed amounted to USD144.6 million (5.6%) and Layur amounted to USD44.2 million (1.7%).
“Shrimp is included as a priority program for Minister Trenggono and President Jokowi. So this is appropriate considering the high world demand,” said Machmud.
Furthermore, Machmud said that the KKP’s activeness through the Directorate General of PDSPKP in various negotiations on reducing tariff and non-tariff barriers in bilateral, regional and multilateral forums was one of the efforts to encourage increased exports of fishery products. “Various negotiations include cross cutting issues of the Indonesia-European Union Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (IEU-CEPA), the provisions of the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA) for Tuna and Crab Commodities, the Joint Feasibility Study Group (JFSG) Free Trade Agreement and so on,” said Machmud .
Another effort, added Machmud, is to strengthen the branding of Indonesian fishery products on the global market with the tagline “Indonesia Seafood: Naturally, Diverse, Safe and Sustainable”. “We carry this product branding in various fishery product promotions in foreign markets such as the Eastfood Indonesia Expo-Virtual Seafood Show 2021, World Expo 2020 Dubai,” explained Machmud.
Meanwhile, Fisheries Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in the second quarter of 2021 jumped to 9.69 percent. The contribution of Fisheries GDP to the national economy in the second quarter of 2021 was IDR 118 trillion, up from IDR 109 trillion in the previous quarter. This increase indicates that the fisheries sector is growing even though the Covid-19 pandemic is not over.