TEMPO.CO, Jakarta – Indonesia's tea export value from period January to September 2014 fell 14.14 percent to US$102.9 million, year-on-year. Nus Nuzulia Ishak, director general of national export development, said that in the last five years Indonesia's tea export has been drops by an average of 2.98 percent per year.

"This is the impact of the downstream program for tea commodity, which increases domestic absorption," Nus said in Jakarta yesterday.

In 2013, Indonesia exported most of its tea to Russia, Pakistan, Malaysia, UK, and the USA. On average, each of the five countries absorbed about 10 percent Indonesia's total tea export.

Enny Sri Hartati, an economist at the Institute for Development of Economics and Finance (Indef), said Indonesia's tea exports decline is also caused by the global economic slowdown that had lowered the demand for Indonesian products.

Therefore, Enny said, by next year the government must map-out national commodities that have high competitiveness to be exported. "The Trade Minister must penetrate by market intelligence in order to know which products are best to export," she said.

PINGIT ARIA