Exports Of Sago RI Processing Lose To Malaysia, Minister Of Industry: There Is A Mode Of Collecting Raw Materials

Minister of Industry Agus Gumiwang Kartasasmita (Photo: Theresia Agatha/VOI)

JAKARTA - Minister of Industry (Menperin) Agus Gumiwang Kartasasmita revealed that the reason for exports of the processing of the Indonesian sago industry is still very low compared to Malaysia.

It is known, Indonesia is the country with the largest sago land area in the world. Of the 6.5 million hectares (ha) of the world's sago land, about 5.5 million ha or 85 percent are in Indonesia.

Despite having the widest land, Indonesia was only able to reap an export value of 9 million US dollars in 2023. Meanwhile, the largest sago regent exporter in the world was Malaysia with 15 million US dollars in the same year.

Minister of Industry Agus views that one of the reasons is the mode of taking sago raw materials by Malaysia in Indonesia, but not recorded.

"Losing from Malaysia has many reasons. One of them is because Malaysia actually gets sago raw materials from Indonesia, but it may not be recorded," Agus said when met by reporters at his office, Monday, July 29.

Agus assessed that one of the modes used is to process sago raw materials obtained from Indonesia. Thus, the finished product uses the name Malaysia.

"So, they put sago from Indonesia into Malaysia. In Malaysia, they processed a little or exported on behalf of Malaysia. This is one of the obstacles that I learned why Malaysia has a higher export value from Indonesia," he said.

According to him, the large export value of Malaysia comes from sago that has been processed. Thus, said Agus, Indonesia was late in processing the sago industry.

"What I convey is the value of the pati export, meaning that there has been processing. So, sago comes from Indonesia, it is processed in Malaysia, it is exported and now it doesn't seem too significant, because the numbers are still small. But, once (on a time) we see the numbers are big. We are late, yes," he added.