Agricom.id, JAKARTA – The slow trade activity in the world because of corona virus (Covid-19) pandemic has no effect for the spices from Indonesia. The spices, such as, pepper, nutmeg, clove increased the exports compared to 2019. The countries in European Union are Netherland, French, German, Belgium, Italy, Spain, and Greece are the importer countries of plantation products.

General Director of Plantation, Ministry of Agriculture, Kasdi Subagyono said that the increasing exports are the same with what government’s is doing in the Indonesia - European Union Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (EU CEPA). He thought that European Union is one region as the important trade partner to export from Indonesia. “Though it is in Covid – 19 pandemic, the plantation exports to European Union, namely spices, contributed to the Exchange,” he said, Tuesday (21/7/2020) as in the official written statement to Agricom.id.

The spices exports to European Union, he continued, showed positively. From central bureau of statistic (CBS) managed by General Directorate of Plantation, Ministry of Agriculture, in January to April 2020, the pepper exports reached 1,69 million tons or about US$ 5,75 million or increased to the same period in 2019 which reached 1,32 million tons or about US$ 5,13 million.

Meanwhile, for the nutmeg exports, though the volume decreased from 1,37 million tons in 2019 to be 1,37 million tons in 2020, the value increased from US$ 10,79 million to be US$ 12,6 million. The clove increased also from 300,8 thousand tons in 2019 to be 380,8 thousand tons in 2020.

The increasing spices exports, he continued, have something to do with what his side has done to triple the export or gerakan ekspor tiga kali lipat (Gratieks) in 2024, just like what Minister of Agriculture, Syahrul Yasin Limpo proposed. "We encourage the acceleration of increasing exports from the plantation commodities just like what Minister Syahrul Yasin Limpo targeted. Through Gratieks, we increase the exports through the policies to increase the production, values, and competition,” he said.

In the other place, Director of Plantation Result Processing and Marketing, Ministry of Agriculture, Dedi Junaedi said that the increasing market access of the plantation commodity widely opens when the negotiation between Indonesia and European Union takes place. The agreements to do in the negotiation are about the goods and service trade market access, the customs and trade facilities, and the technical regulation in sanitary and phyto-sanitary.

Besides, the regulations are also about the technical barriers to trade, the government’s procurement, the intellectual rights and the kinds, the business competition, the policy transparency, the conflict solution, and the sustainable trade and development. (A2)