REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, KUPANG -- Japan imported some 72 tons of skipjack tuna from East Nusa Tenggara Province's seafood suppliers in January this year, an official from Kupang's Fish Quarantine, Quality Control, and Fishery Products Security Agency stated. Skipjack tuna dominated the province's exports to the Japanese fish market last month. 

"Exports to Japan with total volume of 49,689 kilograms (kg) of frozen tuna and 24,338 kg of smoked tuna respectively," the agency's head, Edi Santoso, remarked here on Friday.

The export value of East Nusa Tenggara's skipjack tuna to Japan stood at US$217,245, he noted, adding that Brunei Darusalam, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, and Timor Leste are among the province's main destination countries for seafood products, apart from Japan.

East Nusa Tenggara also has some other seafood export commodities, including fresh anggoli, tuna loin, dry fish, frozen shrimp, fresh snapper, and fresh mackerel, he revealed.

In transporting its export commodities to the targeted countries, the province's exporters mostly rely on cargo vessels by making the East Java city of Surabaya their transit seaport, he explained.

However, Timor Leste, which shares its land border with the province, can be reached by trucks while Singapore is frequently served by aircraft, he stated.

The province's seafood suppliers also attempt to extend their export markets to countries, such as Australia, the United States, China, and Vietnam, Santoso noted.

East Nusa Tenggara is an island-based province having an area of over 200 thousand square kilometers.

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