A prominent U.S. grower association claims Indonesia's import processes remain 'cumbersome' despite eased restrictions, but produce exports to the South East Asian country have been higher so far this year.

In January, the Indonesian Trade Ministry raised import quotas by 130.8% for various horticultural goods like apples, grapes and oranges, after an extended period of time in which all produce trade into the country was severely limited.

Northwest Horticultural Council executive vice-president Mark Powers tells www.freshfruitportal.com while apple shipments to Indonesia are up year-on-year, the process 'hasn't really changed'.

"It remains pretty difficult and cumbersome and not at all what we would hope to export," Powers says.

"We were able to export a little bit more to Indonesia this year, I think we were up roughly 15% or so from where we were last year about the same time. So it really hasn't made a material impact one way or another what happened back in January."

"The process is still very difficult - every time they go through their import permitting process, which is twice each year, the whole market pretty much shuts down for a month while they have to wait for the importers to get all the right paperwork. Then of course it takes a month or so for product to get there.

He says this means exporters basically lose 2.5 months out of the year in processing paperwork, in what is "so far from a seamless regulatory situation".

Powers mentions Indonesia had always been a critical export destination for Washington State apples, adding he would probably rank it in one of the top four or five global markets.

"Back in the 2010 season we were shipping roughly about three million cartons [of apples] and now we're significantly under two...it's a significant impact.

"It's unfortunate with the rise of Indonesia as a successful economic development story, the large population there, and the fact that they don't produce apples and we're able to supply good quality reds."

Powers says before the restrictions came into place he had anticipated more growth coming from the country, and it is hard to speculate whether the situation will improve once President-elect Joko Widodo takes leadership in October.

"Obviously we have fruit, and we could ship more fruit if we were able to," Powers said.

"In past years certainly we've shipped more fruit than we were able to this year or last year or under any of the restrictive policies that Indonesia has put in place.

"So whether we are able to export more or less rests entirely in the hands of the Indonesian government."

China-U.S. relationship still a challenge

Another nation of great relevance to the Washington State fruit industry is China, where growers have shipped produce items such as cherries and pears, along with apples until the spring of 2013 when they were banned.

With the inherent tit-for-tat strategy between the world's two leading economies when it comes to trade, the recent proposal from U.S. authorities to allow Chinese apple imports has potential for removing existing barriers.

Powers says although he hasn't been able to read through all of the relevant documents accompanying the proposal, he hopes China will return the favor by lifting some of its own import restrictions if the APHIS proposal is approved.

"Obviously China has made this a priority, and the U.S. is responding," he says

"We also have export issues with China - we're trying to reopen our Red Delicious export market to China which has been closed for two years."

"Perhaps if the U.S. moves forward on China's apple access issue the hope is obviously that China will resolve its concerns related to U.S. apples and trade will move forward.

He emphasizes trade needs to go both ways for there to be a positive relationship between the two countries.

"Hopefully [new regulations] will allow both countries to feel safe that their plant resources won't be threatened by the trade in the other country's apples and we'll get to the point where commercial trade can occur.

"But that's still months down the road and there are till many details that need to get sorted out on both sides of the ocean and we'll see how it all unwinds."

Powers adds that the U.S. has been trying to get other varieties into China since the mid-1990s and it's always been a 'very political process'.

"It's not one based on a lot of solid science in terms of our export issues," he said.

"I wouldn't characterize anything in the China-U.S. trade relationship as 'normal', I guess, and stepping outside of fruit and  agriculture it's a relationship that is viewed as positive and necessary for the better of the world in both countries, but one that is fraught with difficulties.

"So I wouldn't say that what the U.S. and China do is necessarily reflective of a common practice that occurs throughout the world - and in fact I would say that it isn't. The U.S. has a very comprehensive and legitimate system that's transparent and process-orientated and other countries have either a similar or very different type of regulatory process and it just depends on what country you're dealing with."

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Indonesian politician proposes full fruit import ban

U.S. and NZ take on Indonesia to protect horticulture trade

Photo: Photo: Flickr, via Creative Commons

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