Govt blamed for low quality of RI cocoa

Eva C. Komandjaja, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Indonesian cocoa exports have been labeled as low quality in the international market, due to the lack of quality inspection by the authorities, said Zulhefy Sikumbang, chairman of the Indonesian Cocoa Association (Askindo), on Friday.

He said that for the past 10 years, the government had not been serious in implementing the Indonesian National Standard (SNI) requirement, and had allowed exporters to ship below- standard cocoa.

"Low-quality cocoa that does not meet the SNI should not be exported to prevent Indonesian exports being labeled as bad by the international market," Zulhefy said.

Indonesia is the world's third-largest cocoa producer after the Ivory Coast and Ghana. Indonesia supplies approximately 11 percent of the world's annual demand of 3 million tons. However, most Indonesian cocoa commands only low prices on the overseas market due to low quality, a problem that reduces the income of local farmers.

Earlier this week, Director General of International Trade at the Ministry of Industry and Trade Sudar SA said that the U.S. government had agreed to provide assistance to boost the capacity of local laboratories in carrying out quality inspection. Often, Indonesian cocoa was rejected upon arrival at U.S. ports due to its low quality, as it was contaminated by dirt or insects.

But Zulhefy said that the real problem lay in the lack of seriousness in upholding the export regulations.

He pointed out as an example that customs officers often signed the notification export of goods (PEBs) without checking whether the quality analysis certificate from cocoa laboratories had been attached.

"Usually the certificates come two or three days after the ships carrying the goods have departed. The rule states that all goods exported must have laboratory certificates first, before the officers can sign the PEBs," said Zulhefy.

The rule was initially applied to prevent low-quality commodity from being exported.

But most of the cocoa exporters have ignored the rule because of the lack of government inspection, Zulhefy said.

"Askindo should be involved in checking quality, not just the government and the surveyors," he said.

He added that another problem was the poor processing technology used by local farmers.

He said that Indonesian cocoa had to be re-fumigated for four to five days before being sold on to the market. He was referring to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration rule.

"Our farmers still prepare the cocoa beans in a very traditional way: They dry them under the sun and do not have the sorting machines needed to remove all the unwanted debris," said Zulhefy.

Zulhefy suspected that the exporters of local cocoa, of which 80 percent were foreign traders, deliberately made an issue of the country's low-quality cocoa in a bid to drive down prices offered to farmers.