PALMOILMAGAZINE, JAKARTA – The Ministry of Industry has called on the cocoa and coconut agencies to ensure the availability of industrial materials, maintain sustainability, enhance competitiveness, and add value. President Joko Widodo chaired a meeting on cocoa and coconut fund management in Jakarta on Wednesday (10/7/2024).
The meeting decided that the management of cocoa and coconut would be transferred to the Palm Oil Plantation Fund Management Agency (PFMA). To facilitate this, two new deputy positions will be established: Deputy of Cocoa and Deputy of Coconut. The funds for these commodities will be collected under the same scheme, with PFMA directly overseeing the management through exports.
“PFMA has big fund that can be used for cocoa and coconut sectors to immediately run,” Minister of Industry, Agus Gumiwang Kartasasmita said, as in the official statement to Palmoilmagazine.com, Saturday (13/7/2024).
Also Read: President Jokowi Directs PFMA to Support Coconut and Cocoa Cultivation
Indonesia was in the third rank as cocoa seed producer until 2015 but now it is the seventh. From the industrial scale, Indonesia had become the fourth exporter of cocoa products in the world in 2023. In 2015 – 2023, cocoa production in Indonesia got decreased 8,3% per year and the imports got escalated from 239.377 tons to be 276.683 tons. Cocoa industrial development was not the same with available materials. This forced 9 of 20 companies stop operating. Cocoa industries have to import 62% cocoa seed materials.
Meanwhile, coconut downstream industries are limited still because the materials are not optimal. Many still exported full coconut (round shape). This made coconut industrial utilization would be about 55% only. On the other hand, Indonesia still has the potential to fulfill the needs globally and there would be space to escalate coconut downstream industries massively. (P2)
