RI cocoa output to decline by 7.7%<\/p>\n
Eva C. Komandjaja, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
Indonesian cocoa production could decline by 7.7 percent this
\nyear due to the severe drought in the second quarter of the year,
\nIndonesian Cocoa Association (Askindo) chairman Zulhefy Sikumbang
\nsays.<\/p>\n
He said cocoa output was expected to fall to 400,000 tons this
\nyear from 433,411 tons last year.<\/p>\n
"The cocoa harvest will probably be shifted to next year
\nbecause of the drought, and we are hoping for better output next
\nyear compared to this year," Zulhefy said.<\/p>\n
Of the total cocoa plantation area of 776,900 hectares,
\napproximately 209,392 hectares are in South Sulawesi.Indonesia
\nmostly produces bulk cocoa (BC). Zulhefy said that 95 percent of
\nthe world's demand was for BC, while demand for fine cocoa (FC)
\nwas only five percent, mostly from Europe. He said the price for
\nBC on the international market was currently around US$1,400 per
\nton, while the price for fine cocoa was US$3,000 per ton.<\/p>\n
Indonesia is the world's third largest cocoa producer, after
\nthe Ivory Coast and Ghana. Indonesia supplies approximately 11
\npercent of the world's annual demand of 3 million tons.<\/p>\n
According to a May 2003 Askindo report, 80 percent of the
\ncountry's cocoa export goes to Southeast Asian countries. Total
\nexports to Malaysia reached 43,243 tons with a total value of
\nUS$79 million, while exports to other Southeast Asian countries
\nreached 13,902 tons with a total value of US$25 million.<\/p>\n
Zulhefy said that most Indonesian cocoa bean exports were of
\nlow quality because 90 percent of the exports consisted of
\nunfermented cocoa beans. He said that most cocoa farmers were
\nunaware that fermenting the beans would increase the cocoa price
\non the international market.<\/p>\n
As a comparison, 450,000 tons of unprocessed beans would yield
\napproximately US$600 million, while 200,000 tons of processed
\ncocoa would probably reach US$700 million.<\/p>\n
Zulhefy said that on average, the price of processed goods was
\nthree times the value of unprocessed goods on the international
\nmarket.<\/p>\n
He also said that many producers preferred to export their
\nharvests rather than process it for the domestic industry.<\/p>\n
He said that part of the problem was due to the absence of
\nexport tax for the beans, but on the other hand the government
\nimposed a 10 percent value added tax (VAT) for domestic
\nconsumption.<\/p>\n
This led to a lack of supply of cocoa locally, he said.<\/p>\n
Indonesian Cocoa Industry Association (Apikci) chairman Sonny
\nSatari said that from the 12 cocoa processing factories listed in
\nthe association, only three were still operating.<\/p>\n
They only operated at 40 percent of their factory's
\ncapacities, and he mentioned as an example that one of the large-
\nscale cocoa industries had to import cocoa beans from Malaysia.<\/p>\n
Currently, the government is planning to impose a 2 to 3
\npercent export tax on cocoa to prevent large-scale exports of the
\ncommodity and to provide sufficient raw material for the local
\ncocoa processing industries.<\/p>\n
Sonny said that Apikci had proposed a 10 percent export tax.
\nHe said that it would balance the current 10 percent VAT applied
\nto the cocoa producers if they sold their goods to domestic
\nindustries.<\/p>\n
But still, he said the government should not just impose the
\nexport tax but also lower the VAT to encourage cocoa producers to
\nmarket their products domestically instead of just exporting
\nthem.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, when asked about the possibility of making
\nIndonesia the world's biggest cocoa producer in the world,
\nZulhefy said that the productivity of cocoa plantations here was
\nrelatively low.<\/p>\n
"Currently, we can only produce approximately 600 kg per
\nhectare per year. We hope that we can increase it by 1.5 ton per
\nhectare per year, so the Indonesian cocoa output will rise as
\nwell," Zulhefy said.<\/p>\n
He said that Askindo had targeted to enlarge the cocoa
\nplantations area from 776,900 hectares to 1 million hectares in
\n2010.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/ri-cocoa-output-to-decline-by-77-1447893297",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
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