Haj Minister Explores Opportunities for Indonesian Products in Pilgrim Catering

Minister of Haj and Umrah (Menhaj) Mochamad Irfan Yusuf, along with the Amirul Hajj Team, is keen to explore opportunities for utilising Indonesian food products in the Haj catering supply chain. This was conveyed during the minister’s inspection of two catering kitchens providing meals for Indonesian pilgrims in Medina, Saudi Arabia. In addition to checking the quality of catering services, the man familiarly known as Gus Irfan assessed the significant potential for using Indonesian food ingredients to meet the consumption needs of Haj pilgrims. He noted that several commodities currently supplied from other countries could actually be fulfilled by Indonesia. During the review, he found various food ingredients identical to Indonesian products, such as coconut milk, catfish, anchovies, and various typical Nusantara spices. ‘I saw coconut milk whose raw materials most likely originate from Indonesia, but are marketed through another country. Likewise, the catfish currently supplied from a neighbouring country, even though Indonesia has enormous production potential,’ he said. Menhaj revealed that the government had previously tried to send several Indonesian food commodities to Saudi Arabia to support the pilgrims’ consumption needs. These included rice and an assortment of cooking spices. However, the effort has not yet run optimally due to the geopolitical situation in the Middle East affecting logistics distribution and increasing transportation costs. ‘We have started trying to send rice and various spices from Indonesia. However, because the regional situation is not yet fully conducive, transportation costs are high, so not all delivery plans can be executed,’ he stated. He hopes the regional situation will improve soon so that logistics distribution can return to normal and Indonesian products can more easily enter the Saudi Arabian market, including for Haj catering needs. According to the minister, opportunities for Indonesian businesses to become suppliers for pilgrims’ consumption needs remain wide open. Products such as anchovies, tamarind, coconut milk, and catfish are considered to have great potential to compete in the Saudi Arabian market. ‘The opportunity is very large. The products needed are actually widely available in Indonesia. It’s just a matter of how we meet the applicable standards and provisions so that these products can enter Saudi Arabia,’ he said. Moving forward, he added, the Ministry of Haj and Umrah plans to encourage the use of Indonesian raw materials through various forms of cooperation with catering companies providing services to pilgrims. One option being prepared is the inclusion of specific commodity usage in catering service contracts.