Indonesia Aims for World`s Largest Coffee Supplier

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The Trade Ministry expressed its ambitious goal to take Brazil’s place as the largest coffee supplier in the world. Indonesia is currently the fifth largest coffee supplier after Brazil, Vietnam, Colombia and Germany.

“Indonesia must be the largest coffee supplier in the world,” Nus Nuzulia Ishak, the director general of national export development at the Trade Minister, said in Jakarta.

To achieve the goal, the Directorate General of National Export Development held a number of events, including the Indonesia Coffee Week at the 2015 World Expo Milano (WEM) held on September 28-October 2, 2015 in Milan, Italy. In collaboration with the Indonesian Coffee Exporters Association (GAEKI), the Directorate General of National Exports Development introduced Indonesia’s exotic coffee at the expo through activities such as cupping & networking, special display, and free coffee for a week.

According to Nus, Italy has been the largest coffee consuming country after Germany, with a consumption of 546,780 tons in 2014. With such a huge potential, Nus added, Indonesia must work hard to gain the first position as the largest coffee supplier in the world.

Indonesia’s coffee exports to Italy over the last five years showed an increasing trend of 10.14 percent. Last year, Indonesia exported 29,750 tons with a value of US$69.64 million. The export value increased significantly in the first semester of 2015 by 65.86 percent to US$44.21 million from US$26.66 million in the same period last year.

ALI HIDAYAT