VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

The Meteorology, Climatology, and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) reported that an earthquake, measuring 6.0 on the Richter scale, hit South Nias in North Sumatra Province on Monday afternoon.

The epicenter of the quake that hit at 12:57 West Indonesia Standard Time (WIB) was located at sea, 30 kilometers southwest of South Nias, at a depth of 19 kilometers, the BMKG stated on its twitter account @infoBMKG.

According to the BMKG, the tremor was felt as far as Teluk Dalam, Gunung Sitoli, Padang Siempuan, and North Nias.

The agency also confirmed that the quake was followed by a 5.5-magnitude aftershock, centered 40 kilometers southwest of South Nias.

No immediate report of casualties or material damage was received. (ant) 

​​​​​​The Indonesian government is ready to increase the export of cacao and its derivative products to European Union (EU) countries.

"One of the leading commodities that has seen an increasing demand is chocolate, or cocoa. (Thus) Indonesia is committed to increasing the volume of cacao exports and its quality, along with sustainable derivative products," Indonesian Agricultural Attache for Belgium Wahida said on Sunday.

Indonesia's trade balance for cacao products and derivatives always shows a positive trend from year to year.

The value of Indonesian cacao exports to the EU in 2018 reached US$215.2 million, an increase of 22 percent compared to 2017 with US$201.7 million.

This figure is only one percent of the total import value of the EU for cacao products and its derivatives, which has reached US$27.4 billion.

The largest cacao importing countries to the EU are Ivory Coast (US$4 billion), Ghana (US$1.5 billion) and Nigeria (US$672 million). Based on data reported by Eurostat, the EU is the largest cacao consumer in the world, at 8-9 kilogram annually per capita.

According to the Indonesian Embassy's Trade Attache in Brussels, Merry Astrid Indriasari, securing access to strategic commodity markets through tariff liberalization is key in the Indonesia-EU Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (IEU-CEPA) negotiations.

Such effort can also increase the exports of cacao and its derivative products to the EU market. Until now, Indonesia has proposed an initial offer for more than 10,000 tariff posts, including cocoa and its derivative products.

"We hope this can accelerate the negotiation process to catch up with other ASEAN countries that already have FTAs with the EU," Astrid said.

On the other hand, the demand for cacao beans in the country is also increasing. In addition to exporting cacao beans, currently the cocoa processing industry for re-exports is developing within Indonesia.

For the record, in 2018 Indonesia imported 240,000 tons of cacao beans, with an import value of US$ 528 million. The supply of available national cacao beans is still not able to meet the installed capacity of the cacao processing industry.

"Cacao processing plants process cacao beans into semi-finished goods to be exported to major consumer countries, such as Europe, the United States and Japan," Wahida said.

Cacao butter remains Indonesia's leading export product, with export volumes reaching 24,600 tons in 2018.(ant) 

Governor of East Nusa Tenggara Province  Viktor Bungtilu Laiskodat, said that officials are preparing a variety of fish products to be exported directly to destination countries through El Tari Airport in the provincial capital Kupang.

Governor Viktor did not mention the destination countries for exports, but said direct exports are targeted to begin in 2019.

"So we will have tuna and others fish that will be packaged by state airport operator Angkasa Pura, according to the export standards of the destination countries," he said.

Governor Viktor said he would continue to encourage development of a variety of the highest quality products from the provinces based on the islands so they can compete in the export market.

"We will continue to push, because there are many amazing products that we have here," he said.

Previously, Governor Viktor released the first export of seaweed products from Tenau Kupang Port to Argentina on May 28, 2019, totaling 25 tons in the form of chips, exported through PT Rote Karaginan Nusantara.

The Governor also said that his government is targeting to export Moringa in the form of flour to Japan in 2019. (ant)

The Special Task Force for the Upstream Oil and Gas Business Activities (SKK Migas) has expected that the development of oil and gas exploration activities in Indonesia would be more encouraging  in the future in order to further expedite the development of the national oil and gas sector.

"In the future, SKK Migas hopes that the field development can be more encouraging with many incentives offered in the Gross Split package," said SKK Migas Program and Communication Division Chief Wisnu Prabawa Taher, in a release received here on Sunday.

He explained, a number of incentives offered include starting from the location of the field, depth and condition of the reservoir, availability of infrastructure, other material content, oil density, and Domestic Component Level.

Wisnu also revealed the value of the Definite Work Commitment and the Definite Commitment achieved in the Cooperation Contract amounting to 1.14 billion US dollars.

That, he said, was for several exploration activities such as 47 G & G studies, 79 Exploration Wells, 38 Seismic Surveys, and 4 other Surveys during the 2018-2026 period in 24 Work Areas.

"Exploration activities can not only be carried out in the jurisdiction, but can also be carried out in the open area to encourage more discovery of new oil and gas fields from the results of exploration activities," said Wisnu.

At present, SKK Migas also follows up on the results of the discovery of exploration oil and gas fields.(ant)