DPR Commission VII Urges Government to Realise Coffee Downstreaming

Semarang (ANTARA) - The DPR Commission VII is urging the government to realise coffee downstreaming as part of an effort to restore Indonesia’s glory regarding this commodity.

“Downstreaming must be able to proceed in the future, so that we no longer depend on imports,” said the Deputy Chair of Commission VII DPR, Evita Nursanty, while leading a specific working visit to the PT Santos Jaya Abadi factory in Semarang on Friday.

The Ministry of Industry notes that national coffee bean production reaches 834,000 tonnes per year, of which 508,000 tonnes are exported abroad, while the remaining 3t26,000 tonnes are intended for domestic needs.

Although more than half of the national coffee bean products are exported, the Ministry of Industry notes that there are still coffee bean imports of approximately 29,000 tonnes.

Evita assessed that an anomaly occurs when coffee bean production is abundant, yet imports into the country continue.

One effort to restore the glory of Indonesian coffee, according to her, is by mandating the export of coffee in the form of finished products.

“Export finished products, not raw materials,” she said.

Therefore, she stated, policies are needed to support domestic producers, as part of their production process requires imported raw materials.

She cited the need for refined sugar, used in coffee processing blends, which must still be imported.

“To avoid further dependence on imports, special policies are needed for food processing companies,” she said.

Meanwhile, the Director General of Agro-Industry at the Ministry of Industry, Putu Juli Ardika, mentioned that coffee bean imports so far have been limited to the needs of blending ingredients in the production process.

“There are products that require a blend of coffee beans from abroad to produce a specific ‘taste’; it is limited to that,” he said.