Indonesia's fish export to the European Union (EU) is estimated to reach US$ 2 billion if the free trade agreement between Indonesia and the EU could be applied. Victor Nikijuluw, Director General of Fish Processed and Marketing of Fish and Marine, said this free trade operation will be beneficial to Indonesia's fish industry because of import tax tariff exemption there.Prospects for increasing market share of fishery exports to Indonesia are good, especially to countries that do not have a beach, such as the Netherlands, Germany, France, Spain and Italy. Victor said the value of fish trade to the EU is around 20% of world trade value of US$ 100 billion.
Last year, Indonesia's export value to EU countries was about 25 percent or US$ 725 million of the total Indonesia export value of US$ 2.9 billion. Post free trade agreement, Victor projects export value to reach US$ 1.5 billion-US$ 2 billion due to import tax exemption. Currently, Indonesia's fish produce which enter EU is about 10-15 percent.
There are 320 listed companies exporting fishery products to the European Union. Frozen tuna and shrimp are major export products for the EU market.
Herman Sutjiamidjaja, Marketing Director of PT Dharma Samudera Fishing industries Tbk (DSFI), hopes the free trade between Indonesia and the EU could take into effect soon to support the company sales. “Most of our export products to Europe are processed tuna and octopus,” he said.
Eddy Yuwono, Head I of Indonesia Tuna Assocoation, said the opportunity of exported tuna to the EU market is widely open despite competition from Taiwan, South Korea and Vietnam.
He explained that the European market is more interested in frozen tuna products. The selling price of frozen tuna of Indonesia to Europe on the average is US$ 10 per kilogram.
Vietnam Competes with Indonesia
Victor Nikijuluw, Director General of Fish Product Process and Marketing of Fish and Marine Ministry, said that to enter the EU market, Indonesia has to compete with Vietnam and Thailand. Indonesia relies on tuna while Vietnam depends on catfish as export products to Europe.
However, according to Marketing Director of PT Dharma Samudera Fishing Industries Tbk (DSFI) Herman Sutjiamidjaja, Vietnamese catfish products do not have demand from Europe due to indications that they contain antibiotics.
Based on the study of Sukma Akbar from the Research Institute for Sustainable Reform, Vietnam became the toughest rival for fishery products are absorbed most in EU countries. Fillet of freshwater fish products from Vietnam controls 63 percent of total EU fish market.
In the last 10 years, Vietnam's fisheries industry grew 19.4 percent despite their raw materials are imported. In 2007, the country's export of fishery products amounted to US$ 3.76 billion, with export volume reaching 4.16 million tons. The country is importing raw materials of fish worth US$ 250 million.
Fadel Muhammad, Minister of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries, previously said the government had signed a cooperation with the government f the Netherlands to support the quality of fishing so that fish exports Indonesia meet the requirements of the EU.The Netherlands provided assistance in the form of programs worth € 100 million euros to improve the quality of fishery export commodities that enter the EU territory.
Source: Indonesia Finance Today
