Indonesia’s Determination for Competitive and Sustainable Coffee Diplomacy

by Ditria Nabila

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs just held the “Commodities Update’’ Input Network: Synergy for Sustainable and Competitive Indonesian Coffee Diplomacy in a hybrid format on June 21 to 22, 2022, to analyze the recent prospects and obstacles encountered by the export of coffee commodities from Indonesia. This activity serves as a venue for open communication among important parties, particularly policymakers, Indonesian representatives abroad, associations, and corporate operators. The purpose of the activity is to exchange ideas and get a better knowledge of the possibilities and potentials of Indonesian coffee commodities (Kementrian Luar Negeri Republik Indonesia, 2022).

Given Indonesia’s coffee potential, this is a significant event. Indonesia is one of the world’s major coffee producers. In the last five years, Indonesia’s coffee output has increased. Based on the Statistics Indonesia report, Indonesia’s total coffee production reached 774.60 thousand tons in 2021 (Annur, 2022). This figure climbed by around 1.62 percent over the previous year’s total of 762.20 thousand tons, with South Sumatra being Indonesia’s leading coffee producer through 2021 with 201.40 thousand tons (Annur, 2022). Furthermore, coffee is not only Indonesia’s mainstay commodity; it is also a powerful diplomatic tool for strengthening Indonesia’s bilateral relations with other nations, such as Egypt, this is due to the Egyptians’ preference for Indonesian coffee beans, particularly Robusta coffee.. According to the Indonesian Embassy in Cairo, overall exports of Indonesian coffee products to Egypt in 2020 would exceed IDR 785 billion. These exports climbed 38.68 percent from January to May 2021 as compared to the same period the previous year (Hestyarini, 2021).

At a recent session held by the Indonesian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the long-term potential of Indonesian specialty coffee and the critical role of geographical indications in the growth of coffee commodities from Indonesia were also discussed. To promote the qualities of its coffee, Indonesia can expand the use of geographical indicators, which have been shown to greatly boost competitiveness and add value to a variety of commodities (Kementerian Luar Negeri Republik Indonesia, 2022). This demonstrates Indonesia’s desire for a long-term and competitive coffee diplomacy in order to increase its exports in the global market. It is expected that by doing so, Indonesia would be able to dominate the coffee export commodity, especially in the United States, where competition between coffee producers is fierce.

Ditria Nabila is a member of the Research and Development Division of FPCI UGM. This article expresses her own views and not necessarily those of FPCI UGM

References

Annur, C. (2022). Produksi Kopi Indonesia Naik Jadi 774,60 Ribu Ton pada 2021. Databoks. Retrieved 23 June 2022, from https://databoks.katadata.co.id/datapublish/2022/03/09/produksi-kopi-indonesia-naik-jadi-77460-ribu-ton-pada-2021.

Hestyarini, F. (2021). Diplomasi Kopi Bikin Lengket Persahabatan Indonesia-Mesir. https://rm.id/. Retrieved 23 June 2022, from https://rm.id/baca-berita/internasional/89877/diplomasi-kopi-bikin-lengket-persahabatan-indonesiamesir.

Kementrian Luar Negeri Republik Indonesia. (2022). Indonesia Mendorong Sinergi Diplomasi Kopi Berkelanjutan dan Berdaya Saing untuk Peningkatan Ekspor di Pasar Global. Retrieved from https://kemlu.go.id/portal/id/read/3722/berita/indonesia-mendorong-sinergi-diplomasi-kopi-berkelanjutan-dan-berdaya-saing-untuk-peningkatan-ekspor-di-pasar-global