Downstreaming Of Digenjot Kakao, Ministry Of Trade Prepares Market Access To Europe And America

JAKARTA - The Ministry of Trade (Kemendag) continues to strengthen the downstream strategy of cocoa commodities to pave the way for exports to world premium markets. Among them to Europe and America.

Deputy Minister of Trade Dyah Roro Esti Widya Putri encourages cocoa commodity business actors to increase downstream products to make them more value-added. He said, downstreaming could be a way to increase global market interest in Indonesian cocoa products.

Roro said the Ministry of Trade has several programs that business actors can use, especially to expand the market to the international level. One of them is through trade agreements with several regions/states, such as Indonesia-Peru CEPA, Indonesia-Canada CEPA, and the upcoming Indonesia-EU Europe CEPA.

These markets are promising, especially Europe because their demand continues to grow. The market emphasizes the aspect of sustainability, they like products with environmental lecture orientation, both for health and organic products," he said in an official statement, Sunday, November 23.

Not only Europe and America, said Roro, ASEAN is also quite promising. He said the Ministry of Trade would bridge the gap through trade representatives.

"But after that, don't forget the markets that are close to us, such as ASEAN. We will try to connect with some of our trade representatives in 33 countries that are ready to help," said Roro.

According to Roro, cocoa downstream is President Prabowo Subianto's direct mandate to ensure that Indonesia does not only send raw materials. Processed products, he said, have higher added value and have a direct impact on the welfare of farmers.

What we see here, cocoa has undergone processing into chocolate which is then packaged well so that it is competitive. It should be underlined that actually downstreaming does not have to be in the large-scale industry, but it can also be within the scope of MSMEs. This is what the government will encourage and facilitate," he said.

During a visit to the Cau Chocolates factory in Tabanan Regency, Bali. Roro praised the company as a business model that dared to process cocoa from upstream to downstream with high standards of organic, environmentally friendly, and sustainability-oriented.

We see the growth of chocolate exports rising and actually the market in the world is quite wide, such as Europe, Australia, and New Zealand. For that, our visit here is not just looking at the facilities and empowerment of its farmers. Furthermore, we are also seeing how the Ministry of Trade can encourage business actors to increase exports and take advantage of a number of trade agreements that we already have," he said.

BPS data shows that cocoa and processed products based on Indonesian cocoa continue to climb, with a positive trend of 16.20 percent in 2021 to 2024. The period from January to September 2025 even recorded a major increase, namely 2.8 billion US dollars, growing 68.75 percent compared to the same period last year.

The CEO of Cau Chocolates, Kadek Surya, emphasized that his company carries the principle of fair trade and fights for ideal prices for cocoa farmers. He said many farmers left the cocoa sector because prices were not feasible.

Therefore, the Cau Chocolates chose a strategy to buy cocoa beans at a higher price even though they had to press the margin. However, there are strict conditions, namely that farmers must become members of one of the 12 fostered Gapoktan and manage organic gardens that meet the standard of tracing.

"In this way, we can contribute to the welfare of farmers, ensure the quality of products, as well as prepare our products for the export market, especially Europe," said Surya.