Indonesia seeks deal with Thailand on horticulture

Indonesia has announced a willingness to sign new mutual recognition agreements (MRAs) to ease the import of horticulture products, after a number of countries, including Thailand, have spoken out against strict new regulations they claim have hurt trade.

Trade Minister Gita Wirjawan said here on Sunday, ahead of a bilateral meeting between Indonesia and Laos and the ninth Asia Europe Summit, that the government would welcome initiatives from other countries to set up a country recognition agreement or MRA, which would provide privileges in importing their products to Indonesia. At the same time, he pledged to keep the new, stricter rules and quarantine standards in place for countries without such an agreement.

Last week Thailand, which along with China is the largest supplier of fruits and vegetables to Indonesia, raised concerns over the new regulations, which it considered were non-tariff barriers and hampered entry of products aside from horticulture goods, such as jasmine rice, processed food and medicine.

Thai Commerce Minister Boonsong Teriyapirom said as quoted by The Nation that the “stringent barriers” had slowed exports of Thai food to Indonesia, while the Trade Negotiation Department requested its officials at the World Trade Organization to address the issue at global trade talks.

According to Thai statistics, Indonesia is its fourth-biggest export market for fruits and vegetables, representing 10 percent of its total US$113 million in fruit exports last year.

The Agriculture Ministry recently reported that as of end of September, import of fruits dropped by 29.7 percent, while import of vegetables plunged by 20 percent on a monthly basis following the implementation of the new rule.

Deputy Trade Minister Bayu Krisnamurthi said over the weekend in Jakarta that the government expected to reach a MRA on food soon with Thailand.

“If we ink the agreement with Thailand, we will be able to optimize exports of our products, which currently are not sizeable,” he said.

Under the rules that went into effect in June, the government reduced the number of import gateways for horticulture products from eight to four: Soekarno-Hatta International Airport in Tangerang, Banten; Tanjung Perak Port in Surabaya, East Java; Belawan Port in Medan, North Sumatra and Makassar Port in South Sulawesi. Other tighter requirements include importer licenses and rules on cold storage facilities for fruit and vegetable importers.

Tanjung Priok Port, which was excluded from the list of authorized entry points due to capacity shortages, remains open to countries that hold MRAs with Indonesia — Australia, Canada and the United States — as they enjoy an exemption from full check procedures.

Source: thejakartapost

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