REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA -- The Ministry of Trade plans to manage the promotion and sale of Indonesian coffee by introducing Indonesia as a producer of high-quality coffee in the world.
"We are trying to establish the Indonesian coffee as a brand and market these coffees. The ministry observed that the various coffee varieties we usually market are referred to as coffee of Sumatra, Sulawesi, Toraja, Bali etc but there is no mention of Indonesia in the label," Lembong said here on Friday.
Now, the ministry has urged the Indonesian coffee exporters to use the name of Indonesia first, before mentioning the region where the coffee is produced.
"We want to promote the word 'Indonesia' as it is important for national branding," Lembong said.
According to the minister, coffee is one of the flagship export products. In 2015, Indonesia's coffee exports to the world reached US$1.19 billion, growing by 15 percent over the previous year.
"Our coffee exports increased while the non-oil exports declined by 14 percent. We will undertake marketing, branding and promotion in a structured fashion. I think the participation of Indonesia at the SCAA will be an important effort in improving our branding in international markets," Lembong remarked.
Seventeen Indonesian specialty coffee products will be on display at the Specialty Coffee Association of America (SCAA) Expo 2016, being held in Atlanta, Georgia, USA from April 14 to 17, 2016.
These coffees are recognized as being among the best specialty coffees from all the coffee-producing areas of Indonesia, from Aceh to Papua. In this prestigious event, Indonesia has been named as the portrait country (PC).
Data from the United Nations Commodity Trade Statistics Database (UN Comtrade) shows that in 2014, the United States imported coffee worth $5.88 billion from various countries, equivalent to 19.10 percent of total world imports. That amount reflected an increase of 10.48 percent over the previous year's.
Of this, 81.23 percent of the coffee beans were dry-roasted and not decaffeinated; 10.15 percent were unroasted coffee beans; and 7.66 percent unroasted coffee beans without caffeine.
In 2015, the value of Indonesia's coffee exports was $1.19 billion, up 15.21 percent over the 2014 figure. The US still ranked first as Indonesia's destination country for coffee exports, with a value of $281.15 million and a market share of 23.47 percent.