Prabowo Puzzled by Indonesia's Import of Coffee and Chocolate Despite Having the Best Raw Materials

JAKARTA, KOMPAS.com – President Prabowo Subianto highlighted the paradox in managing the nation’s flagship commodities, such as coffee and chocolate. Although Indonesia is known as a producer of high-quality raw materials, its processed products are still largely imported.

In a discussion with journalists and economists at his residence in Hambalang, Bogor Regency, West Java, this week, Prabowo admitted he was puzzled that Indonesia still relies on foreign products for domestic consumption.

“We have the best coffee and chocolate, but we import Starbucks, Nestlé, Nescafé. We have the best chocolate, but we import KitKat; we eat Cadbury,” Prabowo said, quoted from a release by the Indonesian Communication Agency (Bakom), Thursday (20/3/2026).

According to him, Indonesia has experienced deindustrialisation so far, meaning that the added value from natural resources has not been optimally enjoyed domestically. Therefore, downstream industrialisation is seen as a strategic step to improve the situation.

“I want downstream industrialisation. That’s the only way. We must not export raw materials anymore. We have to process those raw materials into high-value industrial derivative products,” Prabowo stated.

He added that downstream industrialisation is also key to creating quality jobs, especially for the younger generation in the industrial and technology sectors.

“We must build hundreds of factories. That’s what we call the industrial tree. We have already mapped it out; we actually have a plan. An industrial tree for all the important commodities we have,” he said.

Prabowo then gave the example of coconuts, which he considers to have great potential but have not yet been optimised. So far, exports have been dominated by raw materials, whereas derivative products have high economic value.

“Coconuts alone are considered a miracle crop. Virgin coconut oil is considered anti-cancer, but we only have one or two coconut factories. So far, we export raw coconuts,” he said.

“We have bauxite. Bauxite is processed into alumina, then into aluminium. Aluminium becomes cars, but we don’t process bauxite. Japan doesn’t have bauxite, but it makes the best cars. Right? This is what we have to do,” he remarked.

Prabowo stressed that industrialisation based on downstream processing is key to strengthening the national economy while enhancing Indonesia’s competitiveness on the global stage.