The Ministry of Industry (Kemenperin) encourages the development of the fruit processing industry, including producing beverage products. This is in line with the downstream industry policy to increase the added value of domestic commodities as well as to support the import substitution program. "The downstream policy that has been launched by the Ministry of Industry aims to increase added value and strengthen the industrial structure, grow the industrial population, and create jobs and business opportunities," said the Director-General of Agro-Industry at the Ministry of Industry, Putu Juli Ardika in Jakarta, Sunday, December 26, 2021.
Putu said that Indonesia as a tropical country has great potential in the development of fruit-based industries such as fruit juice drinks, canned fruit products, candied fruit, jams, and others. "Indonesia is one of the largest fresh fruit-producing countries in the world with production reaching 24.9 million tons per year. Based on world fruit map data, Indonesia occupies the 8th position in the world," he said. With the large production of fresh fruit, according to Putu, the development of the fruit processing industry in the country is still prospective in the future. This means that the opportunities for the upstream sector need to be optimized by encouraging the growth of the intermediate and downstream industries.
The demand for the downstream industrial sector for fresh fruit is still very high, because market demand, especially in the domestic market, is also still very high. For this reason, it is necessary to strengthen the role of the intermediate industry that produces fruit concentrate or puree as a producer of raw materials for downstream industries, he explained.
Currently, in Indonesia, there are six fruit processing industries between small and medium scale, with a total production capacity of 5,500 tons per year. Meanwhile, in the downstream sector, there are 41 companies with a total production capacity of 430,000 tons per year, which have contributed to foreign exchange through their total export value of USD280 million. "We are currently focusing on suppressing imports of intermediate products, by contributing to boosting the quality of local fresh fruit and increasing productivity in the upstream sector as well as encouraging capacity building for the intermediate industry, including continuing to empower the role of cooperatives as partners in the fruit processing industry," said Putu.
Several strategic steps need to be taken to improve the performance of the fruit processing industry, including managing productivity stability and supply of quality raw materials, providing infrastructure for horticulture producing areas to make logistics costs more efficient, as well as post-harvest infrastructures such as cold storage, packaging houses, and fresh fruit store. "We also encourage the fruit processing industry to adopt digital technology in its production process so that it can increase its capacity and competitiveness. This is following the Making Indonesia 4.0 roadmap, where the food and beverage industry is one of the sectors that get development priorities in the implementation of industry 4.0," he explained.
Putu is optimistic that if these efforts go well, besides being able to improve the performance of the fruit processing industry, it will also increase the income of farmers and can grow new entrepreneurs. "Moreover, the fruit processing industry and product diversification have begun to develop, with the addition of nutrients and various vitamins to these products," he concluded.
Source: https://www.medcom.id/ekonomi/bisnis/nbwMY3JK-kemenperin-industri-pengolahan-buah-masih-prospektif
