Jakarta, Nov 3 (Antara) - As part of the government's economic policy packages, the Minister of Trade has issued Trade Minister's Decree No. 87/2015 which regulates the import of certain products, including processed fish.
However, some quarters hold that the decree will disadvantage local manufacturing industry and domestic fish products.
A number of associations from the industrial circle have asked the government to cancel the Trade Minister's decree because they thought it would threaten the national industry and make domestic products less competitive.
"We have strongly stated that the Trade Minister's decree which was issued on October 15, 2015 is not siding with the domestic industry at all," General Chairwoman of the Indonesian Cosmetics Companies and Association, Putri K Wardani, said on Monday (Oct 26).
Even Minister of Marine Affairs and Fisheries Susi Pudjiastuti was upset, saying she was not involved in the decision making on an issue that partly concerned fishery products.
She said that twice in the past, her ministry was not consulted while formulating trade regulations on goods which also included products under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Marine Affairs Fishery Resources. The first instance was when a regulation regarding import of salt was formulated, and the second was regarding a trade regulation about processed fish import.
"We should have to sit together (to discuss it). How would the people's creative economy be in the future? Should we import processed anchovies?" Minister Susi was quoted as saying by Tempo.co media on Friday (Oct 30).
As was reported earlier, the Ministry of Trade has issued a decree on deregulating the import of certain products. In the decree, certain products can be imported more easily because these will no longer require a Register Importer (IT) permit.
Among the products falling under this decree are food and beverages, processed fish such as anchovies, tuna, skipjack tuna and eels.
Minister Susi said Indonesia should not import goods which are produced at home. Products can be imported if they are meant for re-export so that these earn added value and contribute to the state revenues. "These products should not be imported for being directly sold to the consumers," the minister said.
After all, Indonesia does not need to import fish as it could itself meet the national demand for the commodity.
The Ministry of Marine Affairs and Fisheries has set a target to produce 24.12 million tons of fish this year, of which 17.9 million tons will be aquaculture fish and 6.22 million tons will come from marine catch fishing.
This year's fish production target has been set higher than in 2014, when it stood at 20.95 million tons -- 13.97 million tons of aquaculture fish and 6.08 million tons of catch fish.
Minister Pudjiastuti is optimistic that Indonesia will be able to increase its fish production by two million tons next year, taking it to 26.04 million tons.
Indonesia's per capita fish consumption was 35 kilograms in 2013 and increased to 38 kilograms per capita in 2014. Thus, taking into account the country's 250 million strong population, Indonesia's fish consumption per annum is only about 9.5 million tons.
This figure is far lower than its fish production target this year, which stands at 24.12 million tons.
Therefore, Indonesia does not need to import fish as the country's production is sufficient to meet its domestic requirement, including the needs of its industry and people.
"What it might need to import is certain types of fish of good quality that are difficult to obtain in Indonesia in order to meet the demand of hotels," Mahmud Hasan of North Maluku's Muhammadiyah University affirmed in Ternate, North Maluku on Monday (Nov.3).
The solution for the fishery industry, which is facing shortage of raw materials in Indonesia, is not to import but to increase domestic production of fishing companies or traditional fishermen.
Hasan said that the government's program to increase fish production by providing assistance in the form of fish catching tools for fishermen had also increasingly helped to boost national fish production and to reduce the import of fish, which is deemed unnecessary.
"I do not understand the basic reason for the trade minister to allow the import of fish. This policy only benefits certain parties and ignores the interests of the fishermen in Indonesia," the observer emphasized.
He said the fish import policy will threaten the livelihood of fishermen in Indonesia if it is not lifted, particularly the interest of traditional fishermen. This is because they will have to face a fall in prices as a result of the arrival of imported fish.
The government should instead focus on ways to increase Indonesia's fish exports. One of Indonesia's main exports in the face of global market competition is its genuine fish commodity.
Even Minister Susi herself questioned Trade Minister's Decree No. 87/2015.
She said she will discuss the decree with Trade Minister Thomas Lembong. With the trade minister's regulation, a number of fishery products could be imported such as tuna, skipjack and anchovies in hermetic containers.
These fishery products can be imported if there is a shortage of stock. But, according to Minister Susi, it was difficult to decide the criteria of shortage of stock.
"What is the criteria that could be used to decide that stock is running short? We cannot do so as it would cause a problem to small fishermen," Susi noted.***1**(a014/INE)
EDITED BY INE(T.A014/A/BESSR/A. Abdussalam) 03-11-2015 20:05:0 |
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