Minister of Agriculture Syahrul Yasin Limpo explained that in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic, Indonesia experienced an increase in exports of swallow's nest. Based on IQFAST data from the Agricultural Quarantine Agency (Barantan), during the Covid-19 period, the export of swallow's nest reached 1,155 tons with a value of IDR 28.9 trillion. This number increased 2.13 percent from the achievements in 2019 which only amounted to 1,131.2 tons, valued at IDR 28.3 trillion. "This is a gift from God for us, without special care, swallow donates foreign exchange and income for farmers," said Syahrul as quoted from his written statement, Sunday (17/1/2021).
Currently, swallow bird's nest traded is a commodity fostered by the Directorate General of Animal Husbandry and Animal Health (PKH), Ministry of Agriculture for productivity. Meanwhile, for export assistance, starting from harmonizing the rules and technical requirements for sanitation in the destination country and technical guidance on sanitation and food safety, the food safety is carried out by Barantan. According to Syahrul, through Barantan his party has provided assistance to 23 Indonesian swallow nest exporters so that they have been registered by the Chinese agricultural quarantine authority, GACC (General Administration of Customs of the People's Republic of China).
Because, as much as 262 tons or 23 percent of the total exports of Indonesian SBW were purchased by China. As the largest exporter of SBW in the world, many Indonesian business actors are targeting the Chinese market because the selling price is higher than other destination countries, which is between Rp. 25 million to Rp. 40 million per kilo. However, with this higher price, in particular China also requires registration requirements for swallow nest processing plants in addition to meeting technical requirements. The head of Barantan Ali Jamil explained that in total there were 23 other export destination countries for the swallow's nest of the Republic of Indonesia, including Australia, USA, Canada, Hong Kong, Singapore, South Africa and others. "Each destination country has its own export protocol and we as the quarantine authorities guard the technical requirements," said Jamil.
