T

aiwanese investors have expressed interest in investing in South Sulawesi’s agricultural and fishery sectors, including shrimp farming and sugar. Investors have also been eyeing automotive industry opportunities in the region.

The affirmation of enthusiasm was conveyed by Taiwan National and Security Council senior advisor Chung Chien and Taipei Economic and Trade Office (TETO) Indonesia representative Andrew L.Y. Hsia during a recent meeting with South Sulawesi Governor Syahrul Yasin Limpo in Makassar.

Taiwanese investors are interested in investing in South Sulawesi because the province has tremendous potential to develop in both the agricultural and fishery sectors and due to huge demand from Taiwan for commodities in the two sectors. Taiwan imports a large volume of shrimp from Indonesia, including South Sulawesi.

The South Sulawesi provincial administration has focused on agriculture and fishery products, especially shrimp, as prime commodities in the province, by boosting production. It aims to increase shrimp production from 18,000 tons now to 32,000 tons annually.

In addition to those sectors, Syahrul has also offered Taiwan the opportunity to invest in the sugar industry, which he says is quite promising, given the ample land and huge demand for sugar in eastern Indonesia, amounting to 600,000 tons annually.

“A large volume of the commodity is either brought in from Java or imported. Actually, we have the potential to build sugar mills here, but there are no interested investors at the moment,” said Syahrul.

Syahrul expressed hope that Taiwanese investors would invest in the country’s sugar industry, which is integrated with several other industries, such as breeding livestock, which benefit from cane sugar by-products for raw material.

“It would be advantageous if such an industry could be established in South Sulawesi,” he said.

In regards to the automotive industry, Syahrul said he would only provide permits for assembling and manufacturing inexpensive vehicles, such as cars that cost below Rp 50 million (about US$5,800) per unit marketed outside Makassar.

Responding to the offer, Andrew said he would discuss the matter with prospective investors. According to plan, TETO will bring a number of investors to South Sulawesi to directly observe the potential that might be developed in the province.

Syahrul expected that by the end of July a memorandum of understanding on the planned partnership between investors and the provincial administration would have already been achieved in order for the investments to be immediately realized.