Ministry Of Trade Gives Policy Relaxation To Boost Agricultural Exports

Deputy Minister Of Trade Jerry Sambuaga/DOK VIA BETWEEN

Deputy Minister of Trade (Wamendag) Jerry Sambuaga said that the government continues to be committed to boosting the performance of non-oil and gas exports, including agricultural and forestry products, one of which is through policy relaxation.

"In order to encourage export performance, the Ministry of Trade has taken various strategic steps, including by providing relaxation of policies for these types of products," said Jerry, quoted by ANTARA, Saturday, July 1.

The Deputy Minister of Trade explained that for S4S wood products (surfaced on 4 sides), E2E (eased 2 edges), and E4 (eased 4 edges) on July 15, 2023 to July 14, 2024, the area of cross-section was given. From the previous one that can be exported a maximum of 10,000 mm2, to 15,000 mm2.

In addition, facilitation is provided for subsidies for financing the management of the Surveyor (LS) Report for small and medium enterprises (SMEs)

Jerry said the Ministry of Trade (Kemendag) had issued Permendag 16 of 2021 concerning Verification or Technical Search in the Field of Foreign Trade and Permendag 19 of 2021 concerning Export Policy and Regulation.

In the regulation, export activities including forestry industrial products must be verified or traced technically by surveyorindependents that meet the provisions and have been determined by the Minister of Trade.

"In this case, we appreciate PT Sucofindo as a surveyor in verifying/technical tracing for the issuance of Surveyor Reports (LS) to ensure that the products to be exported are in accordance with the technical criteria provisions, so as to prevent deviations in technical criteria for forestry industrial products," said Jerry.

The main destination countries for exporting Indonesian forestry industry products are China, the United States, India, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, Australia, Vietnam, Taiwan, and the Philippines.

According to him, the increase in the export performance of forestry industrial products to major export destination countries must be done seriously, precisely, and systematically.

The increase in key market access is important through strengthening facilitation and export information which includes export promotions, business matching, and strengthening trade in export destination countries.

Trade representatives spread across several countries (Trad Trade Atase and Indonesian Trade Promotion Center) can be empowered to promote Indonesian export commodities.

"In the future, efforts to increase exports, especially in agricultural and forestry products, need to be carried out in a sustainable manner by relevant stakeholders, considering that the characteristics of Indonesian agricultural and forestry products receive their own attention from the international market," said Jerry.