Trade fairs a 'help' for export promotion
JAKARTA (JP): A senior executive of the National Agency for Export Development (NAFED) said on Wednesday that participation in international trade exhibitions was one of the most effective strategies to promote exports.
Director of the agency's market development for Europe Suhartono said that many Indonesian companies received more export orders following participation in international trade fairs.
He acknowledged that taking part in the events was still too costly for most local firms, but said the benefits outweighed the expense.
Indonesian participants usually secured major orders during the fair, he added.
"Participating in international trade exhibitions overseas is one of the most effective promotional efforts to introduce Indonesian products to overseas markets, especially amid the tighter competition in global markets like nowadays," he said in a news conference on the recently ended Hannover Fair.
Suhartono said local companies would have to finance their participation because the government could no longer afford to extend its financial support of the past.
"In the 1999/2000 fiscal year, NAFED can only afford to help in financing the participation of Indonesian companies in two international trade fairs in Germany, the SPOGA'99 and the ANUGA'99, both in Cologne due to the government's very tight budget," he said.
NAFED also will help in coordinating Indonesian companies' participation in two other trade fairs in Germany, the Tendence'99 and the Ambiente 2000, both in Frankfurt, but the firms must bear their participation costs.
In the 1998/1999 fiscal year, the government, through NAFED, sponsored Indonesian companies' participation in 12 international trade fairs in Germany.
Participation in five of the fairs received assistance from the German government through its GTZ/Protrade, one was funded by NAFED and the six others were jointly funded by NAFED and participating companies.
Suhartono said GTZ/Protrade also would not provide assistance to Indonesian companies to participate in German trade fairs in 1999/2000.
"It is not clear why the German government, through GTZ/Protrade, has decided to stop giving assistance to Indonesian companies. Such assistance is really helpful for Indonesian companies in promoting their products to overseas markets."
Suhartono said German trade exhibitions, such as the Hannover Fair, were popular in international business circles.
"German trade fairs are managed very professionally. They are the places where producers, the fair participants, actually could meet buyers from all over the world," he said.
NAFED has been a constant in helping Indonesian companies participate in trade exhibitions in Germany since 1971, he said.
Products offered by Indonesian companies in trade fairs in Germany include fresh and frozen fish and fish-related products, canned fish, industrial goods, processed foodstuffs, furniture, automotive components, electronics components, footwear and leather products, stationery, handicrafts, toys, garments, watches and other items.
Annual exports of the products to Germany increase by more than 20 percent annually, Suhartono said.
Germany's imports of Indonesian furniture grow an average 38 percent every year, with import value of more than US$2 billion in 1998.
Lamp producer PT Sinar Angkasa Rungkut, the only Indonesian participant in the Hannover Fair'99, said it secured $2 million in orders at the event. (gis)