The New Zealand trade commissioner expresses her confidence that the year 2012 will set the ground for further growth in bilateral trade between the South Pacific Ocean’s country and the archipelagic Indonesia.
“The two-way trade between New Zealand and Indonesia was recorded at NZ$ 1.56 billion or around Rp 10.8 trillion during the first half of 2011. Surely, the figure is greater as the year comes to an end. Our goal is to triple the trade between New Zealand and Indonesia by 2020. And 2012 is expected to be another propitious year to move us closer to the goal.” says Fiona Acheson, New Zealand trade commissioner for Malaysia, Indonesia and Brunei.
Fiona is headquartered in Kuala Lumpur overseeing the operations and key relationships of New Zealand Trade & Enterprise (NZTE) in the three countries.
Before appointed as the trade commissioner in January 2010, she was the international market manager of NZTE for Southeast Asia. Her past incumbency included working with exporting companies in the region.
NZTE is New Zealand’s economic development and trade promotion agency with a global network of 45 offices that connect New Zealand businesses with the world.
Met by HighEnd during her short visit to Jakarta, Fiona says that the trade relationship between Indonesia and New Zealand has been strengthening, with New Zealand exports to Indonesia doubling in the last five years, from NZ$ 465 million (around Rp 3.2 trillion) in 2005 to NZ$ 930 million (around Rp 6.5 trillion) in 2010.
“Currently, Indonesia is New Zealand’s ninth largest export market, which makes it the largest in Southeast Asia. The first semester of 2011 recorded the export value of NZ$ 859 million (around Rp 5.9 trillion). In return, also as booked in the first semester of 2011, New Zealand imports from Indonesia were valued at NZ$ 704 million (around Rp 4.9 trillion), making it New Zealand’s fifteenth largest source of imports,” she explains while showing the latest data from NZTE.
Asked how confident she is to triple the bilateral trade by 2020, Fiona responds, “Our strength is in Food and Beverages industry. Our total exports to Indonesia consist of mostly high quality diary products, which have recorded the ever-increasing demand during the last five years, particularly in 2011. And I’m very optimistic that the demand will be higher in 2012 looking at the fact that Indonesia is developing a much better world-class F&B; market that demands high-quality dairy products,” Fiona says.
She adds that the trends for exports to Indonesia also include high-end value added products such as avocado oil, Manuka Honey and wine. “As a Muslim majority country, the alcoholic beverages sector in Indonesia is small relative to its large population. However, it has been reported that Indonesia is experiencing a substantial increase in wine consumption, ranging from uninitiated to sophisticated drinkers, mainly in big cities like Jakarta and the Hindu majority tourist island of Bali.”
By Aulia R. Sungkar. Published in HighEnd Magazine, January 2012 edition.
