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)