Netherlands Still Imports 'Produks Of God Giving' From Indonesia

Minister Counsel Embassy of The Republic of Indonesia, Royhan Nevy Wahab (Photo: Mery Handayani / VOI)

DEN HAAG - The Netherlands and Indonesia have strong trade relations. The milling country still imports a variety of products from Indonesia, one of which is Indonesian native spices.

Based on data from the Central Statistics Agency (BPS), in 2023 Indonesia's exports to the Netherlands reached US$3.8 billion or equivalent to Rp60.87 trillion (assuming an exchange rate of Rp16,019 per US dollar).

Minister Counsel Embassy of The Republic of Indonesia, Royhan Nevy Wahab said the commodities that are often exported to the Netherlands are those that have not been processed. For example, nutmeg.

"The most frequent commodities are food, yes, food, yes, but as explained by the Ambassador (Mayerfas), most of them are commodities that have not been processed or if the Ambassador's language is 'products given by God', such as pepper, nutmeg,' he said when met at the Indonesian Embassy in The Hague, Netherlands, Monday, May 20.

Royhan said that his party is currently encouraging the export of Indonesian products that have been processed. Thus, there is added value that can be obtained.

We actually want to encourage our exports towards the product process. We also want that there is value added from exports, we not only rely on natural products, but also hope that products that are processed," he said.

Moreover, continued Royhan, the export opportunity is very large in the Netherlands. Therefore, his party will also encourage non-tradional products to be exported. For example computers.

"So actually it has a very big opportunity through the combination of outgoing Indonesian investments to further open market access for Indonesian products that are non-traditional in nature," he said.

"We also always have many seeds, but what we hope is that this new or non-traditional sector can then dominate the markets in Europe, especially in the Netherlands," he continued.