Monographs Series 2011: Technical Dimension of Trade
Agricultural commodities especially plantation ones are strategic commodities in international trade. The increase in export trend of Indonesia’s main agricultural commodities show that Indonesia’s agricultural products are able to compete in international market. Commodities which are routinely exported are palm oil, rubber, cocoa, coffee, pepper, and tea. From some of these, commodities such palm oil, rubber, and cocoa are the most primary commodities generating foreign exchange for the country. Indonesian cocoa is exported as cocoa beans, cocoa butter, cocoa paste, cocoa husk and shells. Rubber is exported as natural rubber and processed rubber.
The objective of this study is to analyze the competitiveness level of Indonesia’s main agricultural commodity in international trade, using Revealed Comparative Advantage (RCA) methods. The commodities observed are Crude Palm Oil (CPO), cocoa, and rubber. Annual time series secondary data from 1999 until 2008 are used in this study. The data include volume and export value of Indonesia’s agricultural primary commodities, export volume and total export value of Indonesia’s agriculture, volume and export value of competitor countries’ agricultural commodities, volume and export value of competitor countries’ total agricultural export. The data were gathered from the Central Statistics Agency (Badan Pusat Statistik), Directorate General of Plantation Ministry of Agriculture, Bank Indonesia, Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), World Trade Organization (WTO), United Nations of Commodities and Trade (UN Comtrade).
The analysis shows that as the world’s largest CPO producers, Malaysia and Indonesia, have a high competitiveness and have a good export performance compared to other countries. This is because the role of palm oil exports in total exports of Indonesia and Malaysia is relatively larger than the role of CPO exports in total world exports. Indonesian cocoa product, generally, is highly potential to compete in international market. Indonesia, Netherland, France, and Malaysia have a high competitiveness in cocoa products such as cocoa powder, although for cocoa paste, its competitiveness is low and the export quantity of Indonesian cocoa exports below the Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana. Indonesia’s natural rubber has a low competitiveness, while Indonesian processed rubber is highly competitive compared to Thailand and Malaysia as the main competitors of processed rubber exporting countries.
Authors: Prof. Masyhuri, Pinjung Nawang Sari, SP., M.Sc., Siti Arifah P., STP., M.Sc., Muhammad Imam Ma’ruf, SP., Listya Aderine
ISBN: 978-602-18085-1-1
Collation: xiii + 60 p