VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

Indonesian Minister of Trade, Agus Suparmanto sent off 5 containers of exported rattan furniture from a total of 40 containers produced by 3 small and medium enterprises (SMEs) from Cirebon, West Java. A total of 40 containers were sent to Indonesian export destination countries such as the United States, Canada, Japan, South Korea, Australia, as well as European Union countries such as Germany, France, Italy and Denmark.

Minister Agus Suparmanto warmly welcomes the success of rattan business players to gain a place in the global market. He hopes that the determination and struggle of these exporters from Cirebon will be able to motivate other exporters, especially the other SMEs throughout Indonesia, so that they can boost the performance of Indonesia's non-oil and gas exports.

Furthermore, Minister Agus Suparmanto stated that the success of this export also shows that Indonesia's rattan furniture products are able to not only maintain quality, but also comply with current world market demands and trends that tend to use natural and environmentally friendly materials, and have legal timber certificates (V-Legal). He emphasized that the current exported products are also the guidance of the Indonesian Export Training Center at the Ministry of Trade through the Export Training and Assistance program. This coaching program is a manifestation of the Ministry of Trade's commitment to supporting the SMEs so that they can target the global market to sell their products. Thus, the SMEs are increasingly showing their contribution to Indonesia's trade balance surplus.

In 2019, Indonesia was ranked 3rd in the world's largest exporter of rattan products with an export share of 6.11 percent, behind China and Vietnam. Meanwhile, the export value of Indonesian rattan products for the January-August 2020 period was up 4.35 percent over the same period in 2019.

Minister Agus Suparmanto also conveyed that for the US market, the extension of the Generalized System of Preference facility which was announced on October 30, 2020 was a momentum to keep intensifying exports of rattan products to the country. He added that to enter the export market, business players can take advantage of market information from trade representatives abroad.