Indonesia’s suspension of Indian agri imports may be resolved soon

In a major relief to Indian exporters, Indonesia has agreed to consider registering Indian food testing laboratories, issuing certificates of analysis (COA) to shippers of agricultural products, and processing the applications quickly, trading sources said. 

Exporters were concerned over the suspension of Indian agricultural imports by Indonesia from March 25 as India failed to register these laboratories before the expiry of the deadline . Shippers feared that their consignments could be sent back or held back mid-seas. 

“The Indonesian authorities have also assured to clear transit shipments soon,” said a trading source, who did not wish to identify. 

Indian food testing laboratories, which issue COA for shipments of agri products such as rice, wheat, maize and sugar, were required to register afresh with the Indonesian agriculture ministry as Jakarta sought additional information on COAs. 

Agri quarantine agency assurance

According to the sources, the Director-General of the Indonesian Agricultural Quarantine Agency has assured the Indian embassy in Jakarta that consignments of agricultural products that had left India between March 25 and April 12 would be cleared.

The official has also told the embassy that applications from about 25 food safety testing had been processed and their “approval” would be conveyed next week. 

Agri Ministry order

On March 25, the Indonesian Ministry of Agriculture, in order to the head of its Agricultural Quarantine Centre, said its permission to laboratories accredited for testing the safety of fresh food from India and issuing COAs stood cancelled. 

The Ministry said recognition for the food safety laboratories in 2019 would not be valid from March 25. It, however, said certificates by these laboratories on or before March 24 would be valid.

Indonesia had come up with a new order asking these laboratories to register again, given the additional information it required on the COAs. Following the suspension of the import of Indian agricultural products, exporters had lamented that the process of registering was “badly” delayed.  

Late submission

“Indonesia had issued the notification 3-4 months ago. While countries such as Vietnam and Thailand got their laboratories registered well in advance, Indian authorities failed to meet the deadline. The application for registration should be done through diplomatic channels. But embassy authorities in Jakarta failed to register on time,” an exporter said.

Indian authorities appliedfor registration of these laboratories on March 31,  but it was well past the deadline of March 25, leading to a stalemate. 

Officials sources said the issue of extension of indian laboratories’ registration and the clearance of the shipments tested before the deadline expired was taken up with the Indonesian authorities through the Indian embassy. 

They had expressed the hope that the issue would be resolved soon, helping Indian expoters.

Indonesia’s imports from India

Exporters were concerned as Indonesia imports a good volume of sugar, wheat, rice, maize, chilli, groundnut and onion from India. 

Indonesia accounted for nearly 30 per cent of sugar exports from India last season, which ended on September 30, 2021. This year, the trend is also continuing as Indian prices have been competitive besides the logistical advantage. 

During the April-January period of the 2021-22 fiscal, Indonesia has accounted for nearly 50 per cent of groundnut exports from India. Jakarta imported 2.20 lakh tonnes (lt) of groundnut shipped out by New Delhi against the total shipments of 4.41 lt in the first ten months of the last fiscal, Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) data show. 

Indonesia accounted for six per cent of wheat exports from India during April-January of 2021-22 fiscal. It purchased 3.64 lt of the 60.2 lt shipped out during the period. On rice, Jakarta bought 2.07 lt of rice from India, which made up 2 per cent of the total 13.9 million tonnes exported by New Delhi during April 2021-January 2. 

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