Measures taken to boost export to Indonesia
The Vietnamese Trade Office in Indonesia has been taking various measures to actively support Vietnamese enterprises in entering Indonesia, given that it is a protected market with many non-tariff barriers, according to Trade Counsellor Pham The Cuong.
With total population of more than 170 million, the world’s fourth largest, and GDP reaching nearly 1.19 trillion USD last year, the Indonesian market is viewed as promising for Vietnamese products. Besidesm Indonesia and Vietnam share cultural similarities and Vietnamese goods have gained a foothold in Indonesia with rising export turnover from the regional partner.
Accroding to Trade Counsellor Pham The Cuong, the Indonesian market has a need to import many kinds of goods, especially rice.
Indonesia's food and beverage imports focused on dairy products with a turnover of 1.2 billion USD, sugary drinks with 120 million USD, confectionery with 75 million USD, cereals with 541 million USD, and vegetables. processed fruits and vegetables reached 222 million USD.
Bilateral trade grew to 11.5 billion USD last year from 6.81 billion USD in 2017. The figure hit 9.39 billion USD in the first eight months of this year, up 25.3% year on year, with Vietnam’s exports surging 22.8% to 3.08 billion USD.
Yet, Vietnam goods are subject to numerous non-tariff barriers from its Southeast Asian peer, including quotas, Halal certification, Indonesian National Standard (SNI), local content requirements and trade remedies, according to the official.
Indonesia’s geography, with its thousands of islands, causes relatively higher logistics costs for imports from Vietnam and the country has a similar structure of key agricultural products with Vietnam.
