Trade Minister Enggartiasto Lukita said Wednesday that the move would help promote local horticulture products, of which production was being boosted by the Agriculture Ministry.

Indonesia launched the “Orange Revolution” late last year to push up local fruit production, aiming to become the biggest tropical fruit exporter in ASEAN by 2025, and in the world by 2045.

(Read also: Indonesia en route to popularize tropical fruit)

Enggartiasto underlined that the government had not banned imports and that the compliance to the request was voluntary. However, the local purchase call could become obligatory in the future, he added.

“If they still don’t absorb them [local horticulture products], we’ll make it mandatory. Consequently, we will not give them import recommendations if they don’t buy local products of a certain amount,” he said.

The Trade Ministry has not set a timeline for how long the local purchase call will apply.

Indonesia imported US$666.37 million worth of fruits and $558.08 million worth of vegetables in 2015, according to data from Trade Map. (lnd)

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