JAKARTA, Indonesia – Indonesia’s coffee exports are expected to rise by up to 15 percent this year compared with last year due to a recovering harvest and the government’s efforts to promote the local product abroad.
The total value of the country’s coffee exports is projected to increase to between $1.3 billion and $1.4 billion this year, up from $1.2 billion in 2015, Trade Minister Thomas Lembong said on Friday (08/04).
The value of Indonesia’s coffee exports also rose 15 percent in 2015 from the year before, which placed it among just a few commodities that followed a positive trend amid contracting overall exports, Thomas said.
“That shows coffee is a competitive product and we must ensure that its marketing, branding and promotion are handled well,” he added.
The government is ramping up the promotion of Indonesia’s specialty coffee, Thomas said. This includes participation in the Specialty Coffee Association of America Expo 2016 in Atlanta, Georgia, next week.
Indonesia is the world’s fourth-largest coffee exporter after Brazil, Vietnam and Colombia. The two Southeast Asian countries on the list are also the largest producers of Robusta coffee, while their South American counterparts lead in Arabica coffee production.
Pranoto Soenarto, deputy chairman of the Association of Indonesian Coffee Exporters (AEKI), said the organization estimated this year’s production to reach up to 700,000 metric tons compared with 664,000 metric tons in 2015.
“Last year coffee plants were stressed due to a weather anomaly that brought heavy rain. But from what I have seen in plantations across Indonesia in the past few months, the plants have been refreshed,” Pranoto said.
The AEKI has set a target to export 400,000 metric tons of coffee this year, mainly to the United States, Japan, Germany, Italy and Malaysia.
