VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

The export value of agricultural products from Indonesia to China continued to experience significant growth during the COVID-19 pandemic. Indonesian Ambassador to China Djauhari Oratmangun at the International Sustainable Agricultural Development Conference in Beijing, Thursday, September 9, said that during the January to July 2021 period, the value of Indonesia's agricultural exports to China reached US$542.73 million. According to Ambassador Djauhari Oratmangun, the export value has increased by 36.6 percent. He also explained, at the peak of COVID-19 cases in 2020, exports of Indonesian agricultural products to China reached 828.12 million US dollars. This figure increased by 86.95 percent compared to the value of agricultural exports throughout 2019. The increase in export value was triggered by the high demand for swallow nests and their derivative products during the COVID-19 pandemic.

In addition to swallow nests, the increase in exports to China was supported by other superior products such as palm oil, natural rubber and its derivatives, cocoa, coffee beans and packaged coffee, tea, tropical fruits, and spices. Ambassador Djauhari said he was confident that exports of these agricultural products would continue to increase in the coming years. Moreover, according to Djauhari Oratmangun,

Indonesia and China have just signed an agreement to settle local money payment transactions (LCS) using rupiah and yuan without going through the US dollar. The Ambassador believes that the rupiah-yuan payment scheme will restore the national economy. Therefore, this SCS must be optimized so that trade and investment transactions as well as tourism between Indonesia and China can be a source of post-pandemic economic recovery. According to him, the implementation of the SCS will be very beneficial for both countries.

Ambassador Djauhari Oratmangun added that the Indonesian Embassy in Beijing and the Indonesian Consulate General in Shanghai and Guangzhou often participated in various trade exhibition activities in several cities in China. He also stressed the importance of developing the agricultural industry in line with industry 4.0 to encourage value-added agricultural production, high productivity, and environmentally friendly.