President Jokowi: Indonesia’s Fishery Products Still Promising for Global Market

President Jokowi inspects PT Bumi Menara Internusa (BMI), Lamongan Regency, East Java, Thursday (6/5). (Photo by: Presidential Secretariat Press Bureau/Lukas)

Indonesia’s fishery products can still offer promising business opportunities for the global market, President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo has said.

The President made the statement after inspecting PT Bumi Menara Internusa (BMI), a seafood processing factory that has exported its products to several countries, in Lamongan Regency, East Java, Thurday (6/5).

“The production processes as we have seen at PT BMI can be an inspiration that opportunities for our fishery products are actually still very promising for the global market. The market is widely open,” President Jokowi said.

Although the global market is widely open, the President assessed that the supply chain for raw materials in the forms of shrimp, crab, rajungan (a kind of small crab), squid, and fish still needs to be improved to increase the added value of fishery products in the country.

“I think we should develop production of capture fisheries and aquaculture. This will be the responsibility of Minister of Marine Affairs and Fisheries to resolve the issues from upstream to downstream,” he said.

On that occasion, the Head of State also extended his appreciation that all production of seafood products at PT BMI has absorbed thousands of workers. In addition, PT BMI is also export-oriented company towards the European, America, Japan and other countries.

“This means that the company has entered the global supply chain and it is not a small value with these forms of products. For shrimps, some are ready-to-eat shrimps, while others are frozen shrimps. All seafood products produced by PT BMI, including shrimp, rajungan, fish, and squid have been in a ready-to-serve and frozen food packaging,” he stated. (Presidential Secretariat Press Bureau/UN) (RIF/LW)