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The Minister of Trade, Agus Suparmanto, confirmed that lye soda exports to Ukraine were not subject to the implementation of the safeguard rules because Ukraine had stopped investigating Indonesian lye products.

"Ensuring the smooth access to exports of Indonesian products in destination markets is part of our commitment to increasing exports, particularly to non-traditional export destination countries. This export opportunity needs to be made good use of by Indonesian producers or exporters,” the Trade Minister said through an official statement in Jakarta, Tuesday.

The termination of the safeguard investigation has been stated in the notification of the World Trade Organization (WTO) dated 16 September 2020.

The Ukrainian government has stopped the investigation based on the decision of the Interdepartmental Commission for International Trade Number SP-462/2020 / 4411-03 dated 2 September 2020. The lye product is chemical compounds that are alkaline and are made in the form of flakes, pellets, or granules.

The benefits of lye in the industry include the need for making pulp and paper, textiles, and drinking water. In addition, this product is also used for the process of making aqua dest and aquabidest water, soap, detergent, and the glass-making industry.

The metallurgical and metal mineral mining products processing and printing industries, as well as the seaweed processing industry, are among the users of lye in large quantities. The Ukrainian authorities initiated a safeguard investigation on the import of the said product on February 7, 2020.

The Indonesian government through the Directorate of Trade Security, Directorate General of Foreign Trade, Ministry of Trade, in collaboration with the Indonesian Embassy in Ukraine, actively participated during the investigation process by submitting a written defense and monitoring the progress of the investigation intensively.

The Director-General of Foreign Trade, Didi Sumedi, believes that the efforts made by the Ministry of Trade to safeguard the export opportunities of Indonesian products to non-traditional countries will yield positive results.

"Indonesia did not contribute to the increase in imports of lye, which triggered the initiation of a safeguard investigation. We believe that Indonesian producers or exporters have the potential to compete in the Ukrainian market,” Didi said. 

Meanwhile, Director of Trade Security Pradnyawati added that the Ministry of Trade is committed to overseeing and securing export market access for Indonesian products to encourage exports to non-traditional countries, including Ukraine.

"In the midst of this COVID-19 pandemic, many countries are using trade security instruments to protect their domestic markets. We are committed to guarding and securing export access to Indonesian products, and ensuring that trade security investigations are carried out fairly and transparently," Pradnyawati said. (Antaranews)