Jakarta ( WNAM MONITORING ): Deputy Minister of Industry, Faisol Riza, has said that the value of exports of essential oil products in 2024 reached Rp4.2 trillion (US$259.54 million), the highest level in five years.
“Currently, Indonesia is the eighth-largest essential oil exporter in the world,” Riza noted here on Friday.
The main destinations for Indonesia’s essential oil exports included India, the United States, China, Singapore, and France.
Riza said that the essential oil industry is a strategic sub-sector based on non-timber forest products (NTFPs) and aromatic plants that are closely linked to the agriculture, plantation, and health and beauty sectors.
“This makes essential oils one of Indonesia’s leading commodities that have strategic value, both in terms of economy and as a basic material for developing natural resource-based industries,” he added.
He said that Indonesia is currently facing several industrial challenges, including limited availability of sustainable raw materials, access to the global market, and production and processing technology, as well as lack of diversification of downstream products.
For this reason, he said, strong synergy is needed between the government, industry players, the world of education, and the community to build an inclusive, adaptive, and globally competitive essential oil industry.
“As a strategic step in responding to these challenges, the government is encouraging the implementation of policies that include increasing the guarantee of raw material availability, (and) increasing the production capacity and quality of national essential oils,” Riza informed.
It is also strengthening the position of national essential oil trade in the domestic and global markets and bolstering the market and investment by creating a conducive and inclusive business ecosystem.
“As well as strengthening the diversification of downstream essential oil products through innovation and development of added value in order to encourage the emergence of creative and highly competitive products based on Indonesia’s biological wealth,” he said.
Meanwhile, the ministry’s director general of agro industry, Putu Juli Ardika, said that the government remains committed to supporting the development of the essential oil industry.
One of the measures implemented to achieve this has been the establishment of the Flavor and Fragrance Center (PFF) in Bali and West Sumatra to encourage the development of the downstream industry, he added.
