Fishery exports to increase 15%

Fishery exports to increase 15%

JAKARTA (JP): Indonesia expects fishery export revenues to
increase 15 percent this year to US$1.91 billion, despite
unfavorable conditions for such commodities as shrimp and tuna, a
senior official said.

Director General of Fisheries Muchtar Abdullah said in a
hearing with the House of Representatives that this year's
revenue increase would be supported by a 36.1 percent rise in the
volume of fishery exports from last year's level of 520,570 tons.
Total fishery production, however, is expected to decline by
three percent to 4.14 million tons.

Also during the hearing Tuesday, House members warned of the
unsolved problem of shrimp diseases in a large number of
cultivated ponds, especially in the northern part of Java.

Diseases stemming from industrial waste dumped in various
rivers and a lack of pond sanitation have caused a number of pond
owners substantial financial losses.

As a result, they said, many banks have been reluctant to
extend loans to pond operators.

Muchtar acknowledged, however, that tuna exports were down
slightly due to unstable market prices in importing countries
such as Japan, a major importer.

To achieve export targets, he said, the government will
promote fishery exports to China, the United States, and various
European countries.

The business sector, he added, will be encouraged to meet
international fishery standards by applying the "hazard analysis
critical control point regulations". In addition, they will be
expected to monitor the production process more closely, starting
from cultivation to product handling and packaging.

Muchtar explained that over the last five years, fishery
production has increased by an average of 6.6 percent per annum
before 1993 and by 5.9 percent in 1994.

Fishery exports during the 1990-1993 period increased by an
average of 13.7 percent per annum. They rose only 1.6 percent in
1994.

The annual increase in export revenues reached only 10.1
percent in 1994, as compared to 12.6 percent in the previous
years.

Muchtar also said that imports of materials for the fishery
industry rose by 52.9 percent from 177,200 tons in 1993 to
270,925 tons last year, while spending for those imports
increased by 18.5 percent from $109.2 million to $129.3 million.

Muchtar said the increase in imports was unavoidable because
"white type" fish meal, which makes up 70 percent of total import
volume, was not produced here.(pwn)