REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, BEIJING -- Indonesia hope to make the most of the swallow nest conference in Xiamen, China, in May 18-19 this year, an Indonesian official has said. Indonesian Ambassador to China Djauhari Oratmangun would utilize the opportunity to promote Indonesian potential as a producer of swallow nests.

"It just so happens that we are invited to the conference," he told Antara here on Thursday.

The government of China has opened its market for Indonesian exports of swallow nests. Indonesia was allowed only to export swallow nests directly to China in September 2014.

Indonesia supplies almost 80 percent of Chinese requirement of 800 tons of swallow nest in 2017 after exports of that commodity from Malsysia was banned for six months.

The market of swallow nests has continued to grow giving greater opportunity for Indonesia to increase exports of that commodity to China.

Indonesia and Malaysia competed tightly in supplying that commodity to China.

In 2015, there were only three Indonesian companies holding the license to directly export swallow nests to China, while Malaysia already had nine companies.

In 2016, the number of Indonesian companies increased to six and those of Malaysia rose to 16. One of the Indonesian companies, however, is large in scale employing around 300 workers.

In 2017, Indonesia became the largest supplier of that commodity to China after Beijing banned imports from Malaysia for six months after it was discovered that swallow nests from Malsysia was contaminated with the virus of avian influenza.

In addition to being used as pharmaceutical basic material, swallow nests have been widely consumed in China. Swallow nest soup is a favorite food and served at restaurants in China.

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