More than 1 ton of tempe chip products from one of the SMEs in Batu City was exported to various countries in Asean. This is the first time that this type of product has been exported. The Head of MSMEs at the Batu City Diskumdag, Yossi Hendrawan, said the tempe chips were produced by MSME Arjuna Citra Indonesia together with other producers. The export was carried out on Saturday (11/5/2022), with a total of 20,000 packages of tempe chips being shipped. Shipments are made to countries such as Malaysia, Singapore, Hong Kong and Brunei Darussalam. "But the shipment is still via delivery from Surabaya. The tempe chips that are exported are of the sago type. For the flavor variant, these tempe chips have two variants, namely spicy and original," said Yossi when contacted by telephone on Sunday (6/11/2022). Yossi said that the tempe chip product could penetrate foreign markets after the producer was recognized as a buyer (buyer) from Malaysia through a supplier from Surabaya. "Then also take care of the administration of the paperwork, some samples of tempe chips were also sent to Malaysia, because the quality of their production was adjusted. After they matched, they were sent from a shipping forwarder from Surabaya," he said. He said, in fact the MSME producers had sent other processed food products abroad, but on a small scale. "Before, he sent overseas but at most 3-4 boxes individually, he had sent peanut brittle to Japan on a small scale," he said. Yossi revealed, MSME producer Arjuna Citra Indonesia already has administrative completeness such as a BPOM permit, Halal certification and others. This condition helps facilitate the export of tempe chips. Previously, the producer was also actively assisted by the Batu City Diskumdag. "The production of processed tempe from Mrs. Hari Mastuti in Sidomulyo Village has long been under the guidance of Diskumdag and PLUT. The production is also with other SMEs of tempe chips. She is also active in participating in the socialization of our activities," he said.
The plan, in the future, exports of tempeh chips will be carried out in a sustainable manner. "Furthermore, he has already signed a contract for a 40-foot container for export. Hopefully, other products such as vegetable chips without frying can also be exported on a large scale," he said. Furthermore, leadership, MSMEs from Batu City have the potential to export their products on a large scale. However, it takes a network to find a buyer or buyers. Then, he assessed that on average, MSME actors were still reluctant to take care of the administrative processes needed. "Actually, the weakness is that there must be a buyer, then delivery is still through Surabaya or there is a liaison, because they are lazy to take care of complicated documents, so they coordinate with customs to help complete the documents," he said. On the other hand, raw materials are also considered to be an obstacle factor in carrying out large exports to meet at least one shipping container. "The problem with raw materials is that here there has also been someone who sends 5 tons of jackfruit chips a month via Surabaya, but the raw materials can't be stable or continuous, so it's difficult," he said.
