Indonesia set to produce 500,000 tons of cocoa in 2005

JAKARTA (JP): Indonesia's annual cocoa production is expected to increase to 500,000 metric tons by 2005 from 330,000 tons this year.

The Indonesian Cocoa Association (Askindo) said that about 425,000 tons of the estimated cocoa output would be available for export.

Askindo's executive director P.S Siswoputranto told The Jakarta Post over the weekend that the target would be easy to reach thanks to a massive expansion of plantation areas in recent years.

The sharp depreciation of the rupiah against the U.S. dollar has caused a significant increase in cocoa prices at home. Before the crisis started in July 1997, one kilogram of cocoa beans was traded at Rp 3,500. The price currently stands at about Rp 9,000 per kilogram in Ujungpandang, South Sulawesi, the country's main cocoa producing area.

The more favorable price has attracted farmers and plantation companies to expand their cocoa plantations, he said.

He said the new cocoa plantations, which account for about 20 percent of productive cocoa plantation areas, would start their first harvest within the next three years to five years.

"By 2005, we hope that cocoa production will have gradually increased to 500,000 tons," he said.

Siswoputranto said that Indonesia would be able to export 425,000 tons of cocoa a year by 2005, generating US$600 million in foreign exchange revenue.

Indonesia is the world's third-largest producer of cocoa after the Ivory Coast and Ghana.

Siswoputranto said Indonesian cocoa production was expected to reach 330,000 tons in the 1998/1999 cocoa production year ending October, a 6 percent increase compared to 310,000 tons produced in the last production year.

Exports, he said, were expected to reach 225,000 tons in the same period, the same level as the last production year.

According to the association's data, Indonesia exported 227,316 tons of cocoa from January to September last year worth $350.44 million.

The United States was the largest importer, with 120,604 tons worth $187.23 million being procured from Indonesia, while Singapore imported 43,784 tons worth $63.76 million in the nine- month period.

Indonesia exports its cocoa beans to 20 countries, including the U.S., European countries, Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia and China. Cocoa products are exported to North America, Europe, Japan, Hong Kong, Sri Lanka, Nigeria, Russia and Poland.

Siswoputranto said to boost exports, Indonesia must encourage the production of high-quality fermented cocoa beans.

He said the country's cocoa beans were regarded as low quality by international buyers, which made it hard for Indonesia to compete with other producers. (gis)