Transmigration Minister states China is willing to become off-taker for Indonesian durian

Jakarta (ANTARA) - Transmigration Minister Muhammad Iftitah Sulaiman Suryanagara stated that the Chinese government is ready to become an off-taker or buyer of production outputs for Indonesian durian commodities.

Following a meeting with China’s Ambassador to Indonesia, Wang Lutong, in Jakarta on Monday, he conveyed that this step is seen as a solution to the marketing challenges arising from increased productivity in transmigration areas.

“The perennial issue in transmigration is that when we boost productivity, the question arises: who is the off-taker? Therefore, the Chinese government is offering itself as an off-taker, one of which is for durian consumers,” said Iftitah.

He explained that this cooperation will begin with the export of frozen durian before being developed into the export of fresh durian, which is more favoured by the Chinese market.

According to Iftitah, Indonesia’s national durian production potential is very large, including from transmigration areas in Parigi Moutong, Central Sulawesi, which is known as one of the largest durian orchards in Indonesia and even the world.

Furthermore, he mentioned that besides durian, coconuts are also a focus of the cooperation discussed, given the huge demand from the Chinese market for both commodities.

“In addition, he also discussed coconut consumers. For durian, the annual demand is around Rp120 trillion, while for coconuts, it’s about Rp110 trillion per year. 4 billion coconuts, while China can only meet 1 billion nuts’ worth of demand. So there’s still a gap of about 3 billion coconuts,” he clarified.

“Indonesia, in this case the Ministry of Transmigration, also has great potential because we have land and labour that can help,” he said.

In the future, we will strive for fresh durian, which is also what the Chinese people expect. They want fresh durians.