ID2024-0002 Indonesia’s Halal Product Assurance Agency (BPJPH) recently promulgated a new decree requiring imported products’ halal certificates issued by foreign halal certifying bodies be registered with BPJPH prior to the importation and distribution of the products within Indonesia. This report describes the registration process.

USDA FAS Jakarta and U.S. Grains Council (USGC) in collaboration with the Indonesian Dairy Cooperatives Union (GKSI),  Food Export Association of the  Midwest USA and Food Export USA - Northeast, and U.S. Dairy Export Council (USDEC) present  three half-day seminars in Malang, East Java; Yogyakarta, DI Yogyakarta; and Bandung, West Java, which are the production centers of Indonesia’s domestic fresh milk.

The Minister of Environment and Forestry of the Republic of Indonesia, Siti Nurbaya, signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Chief of the USDA Forest Service, Randy Moore, in Jakarta on Tuesday, January 23, 2024. The MoU aimed to strengthen the cooperation in technical exchange and capacity building to support Indonesia to implement FOLU Net Sink 2030 strategy.

ID2023-0036 The United States is the second largest supplier of agricultural products to Indonesia with a 13 percent market share in 2022. Major exports include soybeans, wheat, cotton, milk powder, feeds and fodders, dairy, fresh fruit, and beef and beef products. These products also have the best growth potential due to insufficient local production to meet the growing demand for these goods. Despite an often challenging and unpredictable regulatory environment, especially for those products that compete with local goods, opportunities exist for exporters to supply Indonesia’s developed tourism market, growing food processing industry, and modern retail channels.

ID2023-0031 This report provides updated technical information for requirements and regulations on food and agricultural products as currently required by the Government of Indonesia (GOI). Sections that have been updated for this year include Food Additive Regulations; Labeling Requirements; Other Requirements, Regulations, and Registrations Measures; and Import Procedures. The appendices have also been updated and a section on Trade Facilitation has been added.

ID2023-0032 This report supplements information provided in the 2023 Indonesia FAIRS Country Report and updates the 2022 Indonesian FAIRS Export Certificate Report.

ID2023-0035 Indonesian cotton imports in 2023/24 are forecast to marginally increase by 5.9 percent to 1.8 million bales compared to 1.7 million bales in 2022/23 assuming spinners will use more inventory on hand before making new purchases. Global demand slowdowns and tight competition from cheap, illegally imported clothing in the domestic market led to lower cotton utilization which will increase 2023/24 ending stocks to 379,000 bales.

ID2023-0033 Although Indonesian dairy production is still reeling from the 2022 Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD) outbreak, imports of dairy ingredients are expected to decline in 2023. Dairy importers are reporting a 10 to 20 percent drop in demand in 2023 due to a multitude of factors, including problems obtaining import recommendations and licenses, decreased consumer purchasing power, and election uncertainty. Post estimates Indonesia’s total dairy consumption in 2022 and 2023 at 4.22 and 3.7 MMT respectively. Dairy consumption in 2024 is anticipated to rebound to 4 million metric tons as post-election economic conditions are expected to stabilize.

ID2023-0028 Indonesia palm oil production for 2023/24 is revised down slightly to 45.8 million metric tons (MMT) due to lower yields from El Nino-induced dryness. Soybean consumption for 2022/23 is revised down on slower demand from the food sector. Reduced use of soybean meal in 2022/23 is driven by weak feed mill performance, mainly on higher production costs.

ID2023-0029 Economic slowdowns in Indonesia’s export destination countries negatively affected its imports and consumption of wheat. Wheat imports for 2022/23 are revised down to 9.446 million metric tons (MMT) from the previous estimate of 9.526 MMT, reflecting slower demand from both domestic and export markets. Total 2022/23 wheat consumption is estimated to decline to 9.6 MMT of wheat equivalent from 10.5 MMT the previous marketing year. As for rice, due to prolonged, El Nino-induced dryness, Indonesian 2022/23 paddy production is revised down to 53.1 MMT from the previous estimate of 53.5 MMT. Anticipating price fluctuations in 2023/24, the Government of Indonesia assigned state-owned enterprise BULOG to import another 1.5 MMT of rice to be carried out in 2024.

ID2023-0022 President Jokowi stated his support for the utilization of genetically engineered (GE) crops (i.e., soybeans) in his September 2022 speech. To date, ten GE events have been allowed for cultivation in Indonesia (i.e., one GE sugarcane, one GE potato, and eight GE corn varieties).

ID2023-0027 On September 26, 2023, U.S. Ambassador Sung Y. Kim participated in the opening of one of the largest tempeh exporting factories in the world located in Bogor, Indonesia. This new factory, belonging to Tempe Azaki, will increase the company’s current production capacity of tempeh to 50 metric tons a day. Tempe is a traditional Indonesian food staple made mostly of yellow soybeans imported from the United States. This event illustrated the importance of international trade and U.S. capacity building and the success of transforming a microenterprise into an industrial-scale, food exporter. Tempe Azaki, which has been trained by the U.S. Soybean Export Council (USSEC), utilizes almost exclusively U.S. soybeans in its manufacturing process to export its tempeh products to international markets, including the United States.

ID2023-0026 Indonesia’s lower Robusta coffee production is expected to cut coffee bean exports by 35 percent to 5 million bags in 2023/24, which has already caused a surge in imports in the first half of the marketing year. Higher Robusta prices are expected to dampen domestic consumption.

ID2023-0025 The El Nino climate pattern is expected to reduce Indonesia's 2022/23 rice and corn production. Post estimates Indonesia's 2022/23 corn production to decline to 12.3 million metric tons (MMT) compared to the previous estimate of 12.9 MMT. Production shortages are expected to result in soaring corn prices. On October 11, 2023, the National Food Agency (NFA) authorized the government-owned National Logistics Agency (BULOG) to import a total of 500,000 metric tons of feed corn to soften the impact of higher commodity prices and ensure adequate supplies for small holder poultry farmers.

ID2023-0020 On September 26, 2023, the Government of Indonesia (GOI) announced it will authorize the importation of an additional 2 million metric tons (MMT) of rice to offset rice production shortfalls and bring down rice prices. BULOG, a state-owned logistics company, reported its 2022/23 ending stocks risk falling below food security levels. BULOG has been periodically releasing its government rice reserves stocks to dampen skyrocketing rice prices due to El Nino-induced rice production shortages, but now needs to replenish those stocks with imports. Approximately 1 MMT of this new import allocation must arrive before the end of 2023 to keep BULOG’s stocks from being fully depleted, while the remaining 1 MMT are expected to arrive in early 2024.