The Ministry of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries (KKP) revealed the export target for the fisheries sector this year. Marketing Director of the Directorate General of Strengthening the Competitiveness of Marine and Fishery Products (PDSPKP), Erwin Dwiyana said that in 2023, the Ministry of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries is targeting fisheries exports in 2023 of 1.2 million tonnes with a value of US$ 6.7 billion. Meanwhile, last year's fishery exports reached US$ 6.4 billion with a volume of nearly 1 million tonnes. He explained that the target is specifically for fishery commodities, excluding seaweed exports which are also high.
Meanwhile, shrimp is still a superior product. "Until now, we are still pushing for shrimp because there is still a national program to increase shrimp exports by 2.5 times," he said when met at the KKP office, Central Jakarta on Tuesday, 21 February 2023.
According to Erwin, the government's move to encourage shrimp exports is appropriate because these commodities are in greater demand by overseas consumers. The reason, he said, is that the price of Indonesian shrimp is relatively high.
Meanwhile, in the near future, the Ministry of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries plans to export 500 tons of fish to Saudi Arabia to procure ships for Indonesian pilgrims. The Ministry of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries has also cooperated with business actors and banned the export of several types of fish, including catfish, milkfish, canned tuna, kaci-kaci fish, and sea catfish or sea catfish.
Efforts to increase fishery exports, said Erwin, were also carried out to anticipate the threat of a global recession which is expected to occur this year. He said the high inflation that occurred in a number of countries also had an impact on Indonesia's fisheries exports, especially in the United States and European Union countries.
Nevertheless, Erwin believes that Indonesia has a comparative advantage or comparative advantage because it has almost all fishery species. Because of this, the Ministry of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries is currently cooperating with other countries that are under pressure to become importers of Indonesian fishery products.
When there are problems in the main destination market, Erwin said Indonesia could target new markets such as Australia and South Korea whose demand tends to increase.
"Strategies to strengthen markets at home and abroad are urgently needed to keep the fisheries sector alive, even continuing to grow despite the difficult global situation," he said.
