Trade Ministry Targets Southeast Asia and Africa for UMKM Exports

The Trade Ministry says it is targeting Southeast Asia and Africa as export destinations for micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) to capitalise on trade opportunities amid global supply-chain disruptions. ‘One example of what we are doing (to capitalise on the opportunities arising from supply chain disruptions) is mainly MSMEs. MSMEs are actually easier (to export),’ said the minister in Jakarta on Thursday. According to him, geopolitical dynamics affecting logistics routes and cross-border supply of goods can alter the global trade map, opening new market gaps for Indonesian products. He assessed that MSME actors are more flexible than large companies because many are still at the early export stage, making them more adaptable to breaking into new markets in a relatively short time. The minister said the Ministry of Trade is leveraging the business matching programme to bring together MSME players with prospective buyers from various countries while opening access to new markets. Through the programme, MSME export transactions have begun to show results. In January 2026, the value of transactions from business matching activities was recorded at around US$4 million.