Coconut Flour Products From Bintan Island Are Increasingly In Demand In India

The process of shipping coconut flour products from Bintan Island, Riau Islands, to the destination country of India. (Among)

JAKARTA - Head of Tanjungpinang Agricultural Quarantine Raden Nurcahyo Nugroho said coconut flour products from Bintan Island, Riau Islands (Kepri) are increasingly in demand by consumers in India.

"Having succeeded in penetrating the Indian market at the end of September 2020, now the demand for Bintan Island coconut flour from India continues to skyrocket," said Raden in Tanjungpinang, reported by Antara, Wednesday, January 27.

Raden revealed that the increase was seen in the volume and economic value of the product.

Based on data on the IQFAST quarantine system of the Agricultural Quarantine Agency (Barantan), he said, exports of coconut flour to India in September and November 2020 amounted to 18 tonnes or the equivalent of IDR 194.4 million and 36 tonnes, equivalent to IDR 389.3 million, respectively.

Then in early 2021, he continued, as much as 45 tons of coconut flour worth IDR 558.2 million belonging to PT BOF had been certified by the Ministry of Agriculture through the Tanjungpinang Agricultural Quarantine, with details on January 18 the volume was 36 tons and January 22 with a volume of 9 tons.

"In just a week there have been two Phytosanitary Certificates (PC) released for coconut flour for India, this is a positive thing and it has never happened before. We predict that this export volume will increase towards the end of January 2021," he explained.

Furthermore, Raden said that before carrying out certification, of course the agricultural quarantine officials had carried out a series of quarantine measures to ensure the acceptance of exported agricultural commodities.

"Currently, the export of processed coconut products such as coconut flour is more value-added when compared to exports of round coconut, because it is more attractive to the global market," he said.

Separately, the Head of Barantan Ali Jamil strongly supports the efforts made by the Tanjungpinang Agricultural Quarantine in implementing the strategic steps of the Ministry of Agriculture in achieving the threefold export movement (Gratieks) initiated by the Minister of Agriculture Syahrul Yasin Limpo.

He said the Gratieks Program includes increasing export volume, encouraging the growth of new exporters, adding variety of commodities, increasing the frequency of shipments, and adding trading partner countries.

"The Ministry of Agriculture itself continues to provide facilitation for this program, by providing technical assistance and other services," said Ali Jamil.