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Jakarta Post

Govt tightens grip on horticulture imports

The Trade Minister has issued a new regulation to restructure horticulture imports following the implementation of the limitation of import gateways for horticulture produce earlier this year

Linda Yulisman (The Jakarta Post)
Jakarta
Mon, May 14, 2012

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Govt tightens grip on horticulture imports

T

he Trade Minister has issued a new regulation to restructure horticulture imports following the implementation of the limitation of import gateways for horticulture produce earlier this year.

Under this new rule, horticulture producers and importers would have to obtain a specific permit to import horticulture produce from the Trade Ministry only after securing approvals from the Agriculture Ministry, Trade Ministry director general for foreign trade Deddy Saleh said last week.

Based on the regulation, which was issued on May 7, a team consisting of trade ministry officials and government institutions, would be responsible for assessments on the eligibility of importers.

Technical eligibility included ownership of cold storage and transportation vehicles equipped with coolers. The regulation further stated that importers should have contracts with at least three local distributors to avoid monopoly practices.

The stricter arrangement for horticulture imports was aimed to guarantee the safety of imported horticulture products for local consumers, Deddy said.

“We have to provide consumers with horticulture products which meet food safety standards. We are really concerned about protecting our consumers, and this can be achieved, such as by giving sufficient information about the products to customers,” Deddy told reporters on Friday at his office in Jakarta.

The new Trade Ministry regulation, he went on, required importers to package and label imported horticulture products in Indonesian language.

“The label should contain information comprising at least names or brands of the products, net weight or quantity, names of producers or exporters and importers,” Deddy said.

Concerns have recently emerged, as the authorities have found in inspections and monitoring of imported fruits and vegetables entering the local market that some did not fulfill health and safety standards, including being coated with formalin or infected by unique pathogens and pests potentially harmful to local crops.

Officials also have seen a series of incidents that might have lead to pest outbreaks in several places in the country alongside a significant jump in imported horticulture products in recent years. Indonesia imported US$600 million in horticulture products in 2006, which jumped to US$1.7 billion in 2011.

The government, particularly the Agriculture Ministry, has tried to address this issue by passing a set of regulations last December which reduced the number of entry gateways for horticulture imports from eight to four seaports and airports starting from March 19.

The gateways are Belawan seaport in Medan, Soekarno-Hatta International Airport in Jakarta, Tanjung Perak seaport in Sura-baya and Soekarno-Hatta seaport in Makassar. Tanjung Priok port in North Jakarta — the gateway of more than 50 percent horticulture imports to the country — has been excluded as its capacity overload has led to poor supervision of imports.

The implementation of the regulation has been delayed until June 19 to give local and overseas stakeholders more time to prepare.

All importation activities would be verified by the Indonesian authorities with points of verification to include countries of origin, shipment ports, post tariffs, kinds and volumes, dates of shipment and health certificates, Deddy said.

Imports from any country for the first time would require risk analysis and recommendations about the eligibility for imports to be issued by the Quarantine Agency for fresh products and by the Food and Drug Monitoring Agency for processed products, he added.

Key points in Trade Minister’s new rule on horticulture imports

* Horticulture importers must obtain permits from the Trade Ministry with recommendations from the Agriculture Ministry.

* Horticulture-products covered include ornamental plants, fresh fruits and vegetables and their processed products.

* Importers — producing importers and general importers (registered importers) — can request licenses from the Trade Ministry after obtaining recommendations from the Agriculture Ministry. They will be surveyed by a team that will verify their capacity to import, such as the ownership of cold storage and transportation vehicles equipped with coolers.

* General importers should be able to show purchase contracts with at least three distributors.

* Importers must package and label importers’ products. The labels written in Indonesian should contain information comprising name and brand of the products, net weight and quantity, producers and exporters and importers.

* Every importation will be verified at the shipment port with points of verification to include country of origin, the shipment port, post tariffs, kinds and volumes, dates of shipment and health certificates.

* Imports from any country for the first time requires risk analyses. After this process, recommendations will be issued by the Quarantine Agency for fresh products and by the Food and Drug Monitoring Agency for processed products.

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