Fish meal can be exported

JAKARTA (JP): The Ministry of Industry and Trade said yesterday that certain kinds of fish meal could still be exported, clarifying a previous announcement banning the reexport of the product which is subsidized by the government.

"The decree (dated July 27) applies to the export of fish meals and pellets fit for human consumption which are used in infant food and are not produced locally," the ministry said in a statement.

Products that can be exported are "fish meals and pellets unfit for human consumption", which are produced by local companies.

These products are made from the wastage in fish canneries. The current domestic fish meal production capacity is 150,000 tons a year, six percent or 2.5 million tons of which is sold to the country's poultry feed producers. (das)