Deputy Minister Of Trade Jerry Encourages Indonesian Exports Through The Russian Food Retail Network

Photo: Doc. Antara

Deputy Minister of Trade (Wamendag) Jerry Sambuaga held a business meeting with retail Magnit, one of Russia's top food retail networks to encourage Indonesian exports.

Jerry said that retail stores are one of the platforms to be able to market products from Indonesia.

"We believe that Indonesia can still increase exports to Russia considering that Indonesia's export trend to Russia over the past five years (2019-2023) has increased by 4.71 percent. Retail Magnit, which has 30 thousand branches in Russia, has great potential to receive and distribute Indonesian products," said Jerry in a statement in Jakarta, quoted from Antara, Wednesday 24 July.

Jerry views the importance of increasing Indonesia's exports to Russia. During the meeting, he also visited one of the branches of Magnit and discussed with a number of Russian buyers.

Magnit is one of Russia's top food retail networks based on the number of stores and geographic coverage. Magnit uses a multiformat model, which includes convenience stores and drug stores, supermarkets, and pharmacies.

Jerry also emphasized that Indonesia supports cooperation in guaranteeing halal products with Russia. This is because Russia is quite active in promotional halal products, such as Russia Halal Expo at the Kazan Forum in 2023.

"This partnership is not only about trade, but also about fostering deeper economic relations that can be tested for time and the shift in the global economy," he said.

Previously, Jerry met representatives of technology company Yandex. Yandex has the largest search engine on the internet in Russia is the 5th largest search engine in the world after Google, Baidu, Bing, and Yahoo!.

The Deputy Minister of Trade conducts consultations and assessments in promoting Indonesian products in Russia through the Yandex search engine.

Based on data from the Ministry of Trade, Indonesia's exports to Russia in 2023 include palm oil worth 632.6 million US dollars, engine parts 26.71 million US dollars, rubber 21.43 million US dollars, processed food 19.39 million US dollars, and brown fat 10.8 million US dollars.

On the other hand, Indonesia's imports from Russia showed growth of 22.24 percent 2019-2023. Indonesia's main imports from Russia in 2023 include benchminus coal worth 495.6 million US dollars, steel 389.6 million US dollars, fertilizer 338.1 million US dollars, facilitation 274.8 million US dollars, and asbestos 45.03 million US dollars.

Meanwhile, data from the Investment Coordinating Board shows that Russia is Indonesia's 23rd foreign direct investment (FDI) country.

Russia has 3,965 projects in Indonesia in 2023, an increase of 719.2 percent compared to 2022. The investment sector includes housing, industrial estates and offices, other services, as well as hotels and restaurants.