Indonesia and the UK have successfully finalized modifications to the UK's Tariff Rate Quota (TRQ) country-specific concession for Indonesian cassava products, especially after the UK's exit from the European Union (post-Brexit). As reported on kemendag.go.id, this agreement was confirmed during the Senior Official Meeting (SOM) of the World Trade Organization (WTO) through the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Crellin, the Director-General of the UK Trade System, as the UK representative on October 24, 2023, in Geneva, Switzerland. Djatmiko Bris Witjaksono, the Director-General of International Trade Negotiations, stated that Indonesia can export cassava (HS 0714) to the UK at a 6% tariff rate with an annual quota of up to 660,000 tons. This is expected to make Indonesian cassava products more competitive in the UK market. Djatmiko revealed that the Indonesia-UK agreement, a consequence of Brexit, offers both opportunities and challenges. First, this type of TRQ is country-specific, meaning the quota is allocated exclusively to Indonesia. Second, this agreement sets the import tariff on cassava at 6%.
"This will greatly benefit Indonesian exporters. When compared to the tariff without the TRQ agreement, Indonesia would face a regular most-favored-nation (MFN) tariff of 7.90 pounds per 100 kg," he said. Between 2018 and 2022, Indonesia's total frozen cassava export (HS 071410) to the world amounted to 27,000 tons, equivalent to USD 19.2 million. However, Indonesian exports to the UK were quite limited, at 80 tons per year. Nevertheless, the value of Indonesia's cassava exports has been steadily increasing. In 2022, it amounted to USD 316,000, up from USD 241,000 in 2021, USD 146,000 in 2020, USD 138,000 in 2019, and USD 122,000 in 2018. Djatmiko emphasized the importance of TRQ as a facility to anticipate Indonesia's cassava exports to the UK. The Ministry of Trade (Kemendag) has worked hard to obtain this concession, with the hope that Indonesian farmers can enhance cassava production capacity.
