InfoSAWIT, JAKARTA – Ministry of Industry initiated to cocoa and coconut agency to deliver guarantee on the industrial materials, maintain their sustainability, escalate the competition and additional values. President Joko Widodo conducted the meeting about cocoa and coconut fund management agency in Jakarta, Wednesday (10/7/2024).

The meeting concluded that coconut and cocoa management would be handed over to Palm Oil Plantation Fund Management Agency (PFMA) by establishing two new deputies, they would be Deputy of Cocoa and Deputy of Coconut. The fund would be gathered in the same scheme, through export that PFMA would directly manage.

“PFMA has big fund that can be used for cocoa and coconut sectors to immediately run,” Minister of Industry, Agus Gumiwang Kartasasmita said, as in the official statement to InfoSAWIT, Saturday (13/7/2024).

Indonesia was in the third rank as cocoa seed producer until 2015 but now it is the seventh. From the industrial scale, Indonesia had become the fourth exporter of cocoa products in the world in 2023. In 2015 - 2023, cocoa production in Indonesia got decreased 8,3% per year and the imports got escalated from 239.377 tons to be 276.683 tons. Cocoa industrial development was not the same with available materials. This forced 9 of 20 companies stop operating. Cocoa industries have to import 62% cocoa seed materials.

Meanwhile, coconut downstream industries are limited still because the materials are not optimal. Many still exported full coconut (round shape). This made coconut industrial utilization would be about 55% only. On the other hand, Indonesia still has the potential to fulfill the needs globally and there would be space to escalate coconut downstream industries massively. (T2)