Five Indonesian products were sold on the global platform of Alibaba’s Tmall, namely Kapal Api coffee, Yan Ty Ty bird’s nest, Richesse wafer, Papatonk prawn crackers and Indomie instant noodle. The company said Chinese consumers showed interest in Indonesia's instant noodle and coffee products. 

“We have to make a breakthrough because China is our largest trading partner. One strategy is to sell Indonesian products through Alibaba’s digital platform,” said Djauhari Oratmangun, Indonesian Ambassador to China, in Shanghai, China, recently.

Read also: Alibaba shopping extravaganza earns US$10b in first hour

Djauhari said the collaboration with Alibaba was an early step for Indonesia to find more local products that Chinese consumers would be interested to buy. 

“For instance, our average export of furniture to China is about US$3 billion annually. We have the potential to increase that to $10 billion after tariff negotiations,” he said.

Djauhari said the government had also discussed the possibility of exporting coal to China using a digital platform, as currently 40 percent of Indonesia's coal exports go to the East Asian country. 

Alibaba posted 231.5 billion yuan (US$30.8 billion) in gross merchandise volume (GMV) during Singles’ Day, up 27 percent from 2017. 

Yi Qian, deputy general manager of Tmall Global, said Indonesia and China could work together to develop attractive products, such as health supplements, to be sold on the Chinese market. (gda)

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