T

he Trade Ministry will request that some major trading partners lower import duties for several Indonesian fishery products in a bid to set more competitive prices to help the country achieve its target of tripling exports by 2019.

Trade Minister Rachmat Gobel said Tuesday that his office would bring up this issue in a series of negotiations with Japan and the European Union (EU).

The 7 percent import duty on Indonesian fishery products was a concern raised during recent bilateral talks between the trade minister and his Japanese counterpart Economic, Trade and Industry Minister Yoichi Miyazawa on an economic partnership agreement sealed by both countries.

A reduction in fishery import taxes in the EU was also an issue Indonesia wanted to bring to the table with the bloc once they began negotiations on a comprehensive economic partnership agreement, Rachmat said.

'€œAs Bu Susi [Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Minister Susi Pudjiastuti] fights illegal fishing, we can already see how high of a percent increase can be achieved. It'€™s not impossible to triple exports [of fisheries products], particularly when import duties are lowered,'€ he told trade officials during an annual work meeting at his office.

Exports of fish and shrimp surged 14.3 percent on average to US$2.85 billion in 2013 from 2009,
according to data from the Trade Ministry.

However, the figure only rose by 9.02 percent to $2.56 billion during the January-October period last year. Illegal fishing has been blamed for the decline in fishery product exports. Minister Susi is now dealing with the issue intensively.

Indonesia'€™s trade partners have imposed import duties of between 12 percent and 24 percent on the country'€™s fishery products such as tuna and shrimp, according to Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Ministry records, eroding their competitiveness against competitors, which most often are not charged with similar levies.

The country incurred import duty losses of nearly $300 million from its $2 billion annual fishery product exports when the money could be used by fishermen to purchase boats or fishing tools, Susi told lawmakers during a hearing with House of Representatives Commission IV on Monday evening.

Speaking to trade officials during the Trade Ministry'€™s work meeting on Tuesday, Susi asked the trade minister to advocate the interests of local fishermen.

Indonesian commercial attaché in Washington DC, Ni Made Ayu Marthini, said that sales of Indonesian tuna and shrimp had followed a significant upward trend in recent years, with a 45 percent growth seen in 2014 from 2013.