The Mamuju Agricultural Quarantine of West Sulawesi Province again facilitated the export of palm oil cake to Thailand with a value of IDR 8.4 billion. "West Sulawesi has succeeded in making history because it has succeeded in exporting palm oil cake as well as increasing the variety of agricultural export commodities from West Sulawesi," said Head of Mamuju Agricultural Quarantine Agus Karyono, at the release of palm oil cake exports at the Belang-Belang Port of Mamuju, Wednesday (11/1/20233). The procession for releasing the export of palm oil cake was directly led by Acting Governor of West Sulawesi Akmal Malik accompanied by the Head of the Mamuju Agricultural Quarantine along with a number of Forkopimda and OPD leaders in the area. According to Agus, the release of palm oil cake exports to Thailand is a positive signal to start 2023 with better export performance. "After successfully recording an export value of IDR 4.7 trillion in agricultural commodities in 2022, we are optimistic that the palm oil cake commodity will boost export performance this year," said Agus.

Agus Karyono continued, before being exported, palm oil cake commodities must be equipped with a phytosanitary certificate to ensure that the commodity is free from Quarantined Plant Destruction Organisms (OPTK) which can threaten the quality of the oil cake. Quarantine officials on duty in the Belang-Belang Port working area carry out a series of quarantine measures. These include checking the completeness of documents and supervising the process of fumigation or purification of pests as a requirement of the destination country. He said that the increasing variety of agricultural export commodities was a form of support for the Ministry of Agriculture's strategic program, namely the Threefold Agricultural Export Movement (Gratieks). Meanwhile, Acting Governor of Sulbar Akmal Malik expressed his appreciation to the Mamuju Agricultural Quarantine which organized the release of the palm oil cake exports. The momentum, according to Akmal, is to raise the enthusiasm of business actors so as to give birth to new exporters who will also enliven the export market. "The Provincial Government of West Sulawesi also appreciates and supports the flagship program of the Ministry of Agriculture, namely Gratieks, as an effort to boost exports in Indonesia and including the Province of West Sulawesi," said Akmal. According to him, an increase in exports in a region will increase the Gross Regional Domestic Income (GDP) which can be used to support economic development. "Thus, it requires collaboration of all parties from upstream to downstream to support increased exports of agricultural commodities," said Akmal. He hopes that other commodities that have the potential for export can be worked on optimally so that they follow the name of the commodity oil which has been flashy abroad.

Source: https://www.republika.co.id/berita/robdbf457/sulbar-ekspor-3800-ton-bungkil-sawit-ke-thailand