Input and Insight Generating for the Development of Indonesian Sustainable Cocoa Sector

Jakarta, October 26, 2021—As effort in gaining valuable inputs and insights in the development of some export-oriented commodities in Indonesia, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs conducted series of meeting and invited experts, practitioners, and public to be actively engaged in these meetings. The similar meeting was conducted as well in order to explore more on the potency and challenges of the sustainable cocoa sector development in Indonesia

The meeting, conducted with a combination of online and offline, conducted on Tuesday, October 26, 2021 and moderated by Wahyu Wibowo, Executive Director of Cocoa Sustainability Partnership. The meeting was aimed as Virtual Brainstorming for Commodities Updates: Development of Indonesian Sustainable Cocoa: the Potency and Challenges and presented Antonius Yudi Triyantoro, Director of Commodity Trade and Intellectual Rights, Ministry of Foreign Affairs; Ina Hagniningtyas Krisnamurthi, Minister Assistant for Economic Diplomacy Affairs, Ministry of Foreign Affairs; Asep Asmara, Director of Agriculture and Forestry Product Export, Ministry of Trade; Edy Sutopo, Director of Beverages, Tobacco, and Refreshment Industries, Ministry of Industry; Agung Wahyu Susilo, Head of Indonesian Coffee and Cocoa Research Institute; and Insan Syafaat, Executive Director of Partnership for Indonesian Sustainable Agriculture (PISAgro).

In his welcoming remarks, Antonius Yudi Triyantoro mentioned that these series of meeting were the focus of Ministry of Foreign Affairs in developing prioritized export-oriented commodities in Indonesia by focusing on issues of sustainability. Ina Hagniningtyas Krisnamurthi in her keynote explained that these meetings, initiated by Ministry of Foreign Affairs, were to utilize the implementation of World Cocoa Conference in the mid of 2022 in Bali. “During the launching of agriculture commodities export, the President of Indonesia, Joko Widodo stated that agriculture sector was one of the sectors that could be survived and provided livelihood for the community in the time of pandemic," said the Minister Assistant for Economic Diplomacy Affairs, Ministry of Foreign Affairs. She also added that the focuses of this brainstorming meeting were to see the overview of cocoa sector globally, the opportunities of Indonesian cocoa sector, the challenges of sustainable cocoa, and how commodities diplomacy was implemented by the ministry.

Asep Asmara described as well the export and import performance of cocoa and its other chocolate-contained products in Indonesia. For international market share, the export rate of cocoa and chocolate-contained products had experienced fluctuation in certain periods. “For instance, Indonesia contributed as much as 4,8% for the export of cocoa paste in 2020. And cocoa butter and powder, the contribution in international market share were respectively 13,9% and 6,4%. The percentage of chocolate foods and beverages products export internationally was 0,16%," Asep Asmara added.

From the perspective of cocoa processing and chocolate producing, Edy Sutopo said that the installed capacity for national industries was 739.250 tons per year. "For current period, the number of cocoa-related products producing is 11 industries. And in 2020, the utilization of cocoa processing industries was 51,35% with raw materials of national productivity was 180.763 tons and 198.838 tons imported," Edy Sutopo said.

In the next session, Agung Wahyu Susilo explained that there was an important thing to do collectively as increasing the national cocoa productivity in reducing the import rate. “Collectively, we should increase the domestic chocolate consumption rate. If the community interest on chocolate products is increasing, the national cocoa productivity can be increased as well. Because the demand of raw material will increase," said Agung Wahyu Susilo.

Insan Syafaat in his last presentation in this session added that how the stakeholders in Indonesian cocoa sector should coordinated, communicated, and cooperated to each other. “In applying the initiatives in empowering the farmers, PISAgro develops inclusive cooperation by locating the farmer position in the center of this ecosystem,” he said.

This activity, conducted to gain the inputs and insights and initiated by Ministry of Foreign Affairs, was attended by the various stakeholders of Indonesian cocoa sector such as researchers, chocolate-contained food and beverage industries, cocoa processing industries, and the representatives of related ministries. The government representatives of Indonesian embassies office in some countries also attended the meeting. The collected constructive inputs and insights would be developed into resources and references for the government in policy making processes. (CSP/AH)