RI's Position As Kakao Producer Drops To 7th Place, Ministry Of Industry Reveals The Cause

Director General of Agro Industry of the Ministry of Industry Putu Juli Ardika. Photo: Theresia Agatha/VOI

JAKARTA - The Ministry of Industry (Kemenperin) stated that currently the growth of the cocoa industry has not shown satisfactory results. This is evidenced by the shift in Indonesia's position as the largest producer of cocoa to 7th position from 4th in the world.

"Industrial growth is not in line with the decreasing availability of cocoa beans, making Indonesia's position from the 4th producer in the world ranked 7th," said Director General of Agro Industry at the Ministry of Industry Putu Juli Ardika at the National Kakao Workshop at the Ministry of Industry office, Jakarta, Wednesday, January 15.

According to Putu, crop failure due to climate change in Ghana and Ivory Coast, which is the main producer of world cocoa, has resulted in dramatically increasing cocoa prices in the world market.

It was recorded that in 2023, the price of cocoa beans was still at 3,280 US dollars per tonne and continued to climb fluctuately throughout 2024 with the highest average value at the end of the year reaching 10,556 US dollars per ton.

With the increase in the price of cocoa beans in the global market, it has decreased the number of industries from 20 to 11 existing cocoa processing industries.

The surge in cocoa prices also provides challenges for the domestic food and beverage industry (mamin). This is because the increase in cocoa prices has an impact on increasing the cost of raw materials in the food and beverage sector.

"The increase in raw material prices certainly dealt a severe blow to the cocoa processing industry," said Putu.

In addition, Putu said, it is estimated that cocoa utilization in 2024 will decrease when compared to 2023, reaching 61 percent.

"On the other hand, this condition is an opportunity to revive the upstream sector of Indonesia," he concluded.