TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The government assured the maritime and fisheries sector need not worry about facing the 2015 ASEAN Economic Community (AEC). Saut Parulian Hutagalung, Director General of Processing and Marketing of Fishery Products (DJP2HP), highlighted Indonesia’s fisheries exports to ASEAN, which already exceeds US$ 500 million—far surpassing imports of only around US$ 40 million. Saut presented these figures yesterday, during the Workshop and Focus Group Discussion on the Readiness of the Maritime and Fisheries Sector in Facing the 2015 AEC, at Swiss-bel Hotel, Jakarta.

Though confident, Indonesia should still compare itself to other ASEAN countries. Logistics is still an obstacle because Indonesia is an archipelago; transportation costs for the maritime and fisheries sector, therefore, are expensive, while they greatly affect the price component of fishery products.

“This is what we need to pay attention to. Besides quality, price is also important. If our fishery products are more expensive, we will lose to other ASEAN countries that don’t have logistics problems,” he said.

Nevertheless, Saut said that in facing AEC 2015, Indonesia’s focus should no longer be ASEAN but the global market, backed by Indonesia’s strong exports of fishery products to ASEAN countries in 2012—with export volume reaching 43 thousand tons and export value of US$ 548 million. Since 2008, the average growth of Indonesia’s export value is 17.43 percent. As a comparison, Indonesia’s imports of fishery products from ASEAN countries in 2012 were US$ 54 million and the average growth of imports since 2008 is 6.62 percent.

According to its balance of trade of fishery products with ASEAN countries for the last five years, Indonesia still enjoys a surplus. In 2012, for example, a surplus of US$ 493 million was achieved—with an average growth rate of 22.71 percent since 2008. Additionally, up to July 2013, the value of exports reached US$ 310 million with a volume of 236 thousand tons, while imports were US$ 36 million and 28 thousand tons, respectively.

APRILIANI GITA FITRIA