Transmigration Minister Urges Transmigrants to Optimise Durian Export Opportunities to China

Jakarta (ANTARA) - Transmigration Minister (Mentrans) M Iftitah Sulaiman Suryanagara has urged residents in transmigration areas to optimise opportunities for exporting durian commodities, both frozen and fresh, to China. He emphasised the importance of downstream processing for products to increase added value, while also promoting the optimisation of fresh durian exports, which hold higher economic value in the international market. “Demand for durian in the global market, particularly in China, is very high. The value of fresh durian can even be nearly double that of frozen products. This is a huge opportunity that we must seize,” he said in an official statement received in Jakarta on Friday. One area that has successfully developed durian commodities is Parigi Moutong Regency in Central Sulawesi Province. Minister Iftitah personally led the export release of 459 tonnes of durian worth Rp42.5 billion originating from 11 transmigration areas in the regency on Thursday (16/4). On that occasion, he also inspected the packaging process for durian to be marketed abroad. He stated that the success of this durian export is the result of strengthening an area-based economic ecosystem, which is now the new direction of transmigration policy. Besides durian, he mentioned that coconuts also have promising export prospects, with demand reaching 4 billion nuts or around Rp110 trillion per year in China, while domestic production in the Bamboo Curtain country only reaches 1 billion nuts. To optimise this export potential, the government will later develop a horticulture economic corridor in Central Sulawesi covering the Poso, Sigi, to Parigi Moutong areas. Most of Parigi Moutong itself consists of transmigration and ex-transmigration areas that have developed into horticulture production centres. The Ministry of Transmigration (Kementrans) is also opening opportunities for collaboration with investors and international partners to strengthen supply chains, infrastructure, and market access for leading regional commodities. “Transmigration today is no longer just about relocating populations, but creating an area-based economic ecosystem capable of producing globally competitive leading commodities,” said M Iftitah Sulaiman Suryanagara.