Agricultural products to drive 2003 export
Agricultural products to drive 2003 export
Adianto P. Simamora, The Jakarta post, Jakarta
Agriculture products would be the prime mover of the country's
non-oil and gas exports next year amid an increasing trend in the
prices of the commodities, Minister of Industry and Trade Rini
Soewandi said on Tuesday.
She said that non-oil and gas exports would increase by up to
7 percent in 2003 from around US$42.7 billion in 2001.
"I predict non-oil and gas exports will rise by between 5-7
percent in 2003, to be mainly contributed by the increase in the
export of agriculture products such as crude palm oil (CPO),
cocoa, rubber, and coffee," Rini told reporters.
She said that the price of the above commodities have been on
the rise during the past several months.
Rini said, however, that the export of manufacturing products
such as textiles, shoes, electronics and wood-related products,
which were the country's main non-oil and gas export products,
would likely decline by some 10 percent next year.
She did not explain the reason for the decline, but experts
have said that the export performance of the manufacturing sector
had been weak due to various problems at home and shrinking
markets overseas amid the economic slowdown in the U.S. and
Japan, the two main export markets of Indonesia's manufacturing
products.
"There is a new trend in our export in terms of the products.
I see that agricultural products will contribute more to the
performance of non-oil and gas exports in the future," Rini said.
She said that her office and the Ministry of Agriculture would
seek ways to boost the competitiveness of the country's
agriculture exports.
The government hopes that exports can play a significant role
in pushing the country's economic growth to the targeted 5
percent next year from an estimated 4 percent this year.
Meanwhile, chairman of the Indonesian Palm Oil Producers
Association (Gapki) Derom Bangun said that the price of crude
palm oil (CPO) had been on the rise during the past couple of
months, and would likely continue increasing in the months ahead.
Derom said the country's CPO exports were expected to hit some
5.5 million tons by the end of this year, from 4.9 million tons
in 2001.
Indonesia is the world's second largest palm oil producer
after Malaysia.
The Indonesian Cocoa Association (Askindo) is also upbeat
about exports. Askindo recently revised this year's output
target from an initial projection of 370,000 tons to 410,000
tons.
Although coffee prices have been under pressure for quite some
time due to oversupply, the Association of Indonesian Coffee
Exporters (AEKI) recently said that the price of the commodity
would hopefully rise to as much as 90 U.S. cents per kilogram
from the current price level of around 41 cents.
The price of rubber has also been under pressure due to
oversupply, but the world's three leading rubber producing
nations -- Indonesia, Thailand and Malaysia -- have recently
agreed to set up a tripartite rubber partnership to help prop up
the price of the commodity to around $1 per kilogram this year
from the current level of around 80 cents.
Indonesia, the world second largest rubber producer plans to
export some 1.23 million tons of rubber this year, down from 1.45
million tons in 2001.