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n 2013, four friends, acknowledging the immense commercial potential of Indonesia’s tropical fruits, sent an initial 23 tons of fruit to China. By 2015, they were shipping 120 tons to a range of Asian and European countries, buying their produce from 2,000 Indonesian farmers.

Swasti Karim, 30, and Margareta Astaman, 31, and their two friends founded Nusantara Segar Global with less than Rp 1 billion seed capital in 2014. By 2015, the company was booking between Rp 7 billion and Rp 12 billion in turnover.

“Indonesia is one of the world’s 10-largest producers of fruit,” said Margareta, CEO of the company, which ships fruits such as mangosteens, kaffir limes and snake fruit from Sumatra and Sulawesi to countries that include China, France and the Netherlands.

Potential markets, meanwhile, include the Czech Republic, Singapore, Thailand and other Southeast Asian countries, Margareta and Swasti said, adding that market observation was key to penetrating new markets.

“Now we go abroad not only to travel but also to observe new markets to see what kind of Indonesian fruit might be supplied there,” Swasti explained.

Amid sluggish global trade, young small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are painting a bright outlook for Indonesian trade, as President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo encourages export-oriented industries, particularly micro and small businesses, to penetrate new markets such as the Middle East and more ASEAN countries.

Ardhi Setyo Putranto, 24, is another example. The banana chips exporter, based in Yogyakarta under the brand Banana Queen, is looking to enter countries in the Middle East such as Saudi Arabia.

Five years ago, when most of his university peers were concentrating on passing their exams, Ardhi, a food technology student, hit on the idea to use ripe bananas as the main ingredient for his future business

“The market for cassava chips and peanuts is dominated by big players like Indofood and Garuda, but that’s not the case for banana chips,” he said, adding that many foreign countries were attracted by the healthy alternative offered by banana chips, which need no added sugar given the natural sweetness of ripe bananas.

In 2015, Ardhi, who partners with 100 banana farmers groups in Gunungkidul, Yogyakarta, netted
Rp 1.2 billion in revenue through the export of six tons of banana chips to Brunei Darussalam and the Netherlands. The year before, his company, PT Setya Putra Perkasa, had garnered income of Rp 1 billion from the export of 5 tons to Pakistan and the Netherlands.

The broader export figures are less encouraging. Not immune to the global economic slowdown that has seen sluggish demand worldwide and affected trade between countries, Indonesia saw exports slump 12.8 percent year-on-year in the January-May period to US$56.59 billion. Exports make up around 20 percent of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP).

Indonesia’s three-largest export destinations are all suffering from slow economic recovery. Exports to the US, which accounted for 12 percent of overall shipments in the January-May period, contracted by 3.07 percent. Goods shipped to Japan and China, which represent 10 percent and 9.5 percent of overall exports, dropped 7.7 percent and 10 percent, respectively.

“Youngsters these days are more advanced, especially with the existing technology,” said the Trade Ministry’s acting director general for national export development, Tjahya Widayanti.

The ministry has programs to help micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) start up and scale up, including design clinics for beginners and export training and coaching programs for exporters, Tjahya added. To help ease funding for micro and small businesses, the government has cut micro-loan (KUR) interest rates from 22 percent to 12 percent to boost micro and small businesses.

Indonesia Employers Association (APINDO) Shinta Widjaja Kamdani noted that growing numbers of SMEs were finding new export markets and growing their enterprises. The success is attributable to their ability to create unique products tailored to demand in specific countries, she added.

“Americans prefer batik made of cotton while Japanese people prefer batik made of silk. SMEs are able to provide what they need,” she cited.

For major exporters, the struggle to revive growth is primarily due to quota restrictions, tariff barriers and non-tariff barriers. “It is as such very important for Indonesia to have in place free-trade agreements with strategic partners while at the same time furthering the national interest,” said Shinta.

Competition with dominant international brands has also hampered growth for large Indonesian exporters, said Eddy Widjanarko, chairman of the Indonesian Footwear Association (Aprisindo).

SMEs, on the other hand, Eddy added, have enjoyed exponential export growth because they continue to innovate and enter new and promising markets. (vny/win/adt)