Indonesia Aims to Increase Exports to Saudi Arabia

Jakarta, MINA – Indonesiam Ministry of Trade stated that it would again make efforts to penetrate the export market to Saudi Arabia. This is in line with the policy of the Saudi Arabian government which will gradually open the Hajj and Umrah pilgrimages in the Holy Land.

Director of Export Development Cooperation, Ministry of Trade, Marolop Nainggolan, the pandemic that has lasted almost two years should no longer be an obstacle to increasing export markets, especially Saudi Arabia.

“Policy developments in Saudi Arabia are an important part for us
The Ministry of Trade has coordinated with the Ministry of Religion, the Ministry of Cooperative SMEs, ITPC Jeddah, as well as the demonstration attache,” said Marolop at the Indonesia-Digital Edition Trade Expo Business Forum on Thursday as quoted from Ihram.co.id.

He said the government must prepare MSMEs to be able to enter the Saudi Arabian market. Mainly, MSMEs that are engaged in food and beverage that can be consumed by pilgrims and Umrah pilgrims as well as indigenous people.

Also Read: Kashmir Freedom Fighter, Yasin Malik Demands Death Penalty

The Indonesian Consul General in Jeddah, Eko Hartono, said that the potential of Saudi Arabia’s market for food and beverage products is very large, it’s just that SMEs are still underutilized. According to him, one of the reasons is the lack of information received by business actors in Indonesia.

Meanwhile, the market potential is not only from Umrah and Hajj pilgrims from Indonesia, but also from the local community. “Both immigrants from other countries and local natives, many like Indonesian food. We must take advantage of this for penetration,” he said.

Citing data from the Ministry of Trade, the value of Indonesia’s non-oil and gas exports to Saudi Arabia for the January-August 2021 period was US$957.1 million. This value jumped 601 percent from the same period last year which amounted to 29.5 US dollars.

Also Read: Indonesia-Qatar Business Council Holds Export Training

Meanwhile, the value of non-oil and gas imports from Saudi Arabia was recorded at US$ 536 million, up 76.84 percent from last year’s US$ 303 million. Thus, Indonesia recorded a non-oil and gas trade balance surplus of US$420 million. (T/RE1)

Mi’raj News Agency (MINA)