Indonesian Coffee Producers Expand Market to Canada, Germany, and the Philippines

Women coffee farmers from Bumdesma Raisa, Bondowoso district.

BANYUWANGI, 7 March 2022 – The NSLIC/NSELRED Project today staged an online International Business Matching Event as part of NSLIC’s Access to Market Program.  The aim of the event, the first business matching in 2022, was to open international access for Indonesian micro and small business actors by having the Indonesian Coffee SMEs meet with buyers from Canada, Germany, and the Philippines in online breakout rooms. This cost-effective virtual approach focused on SMEs who may not have sufficient means to travel overseas themselves to sell their commodities and products globally especially during the COVID-19 pandemic.

According to Richard Le Bars, the Chargé d’affaires a.i. of the Embassy of Canada to Indonesia, “Canada applauds the success of local coffee producers to go international today. Through intensive trainings, coaching and facilitation provided by the Canada-funded NSLIC project to micro and small businesses from East Java, Jogjakarta and Bali, we see the quality and quantity of their products improved to meet the international standard and demand. We also would like to thank our private sector partners, BNI and Sarinah, for their strong collaboration in bringing their expertise in export facilitation and linkage to international markets to benefit these local producers. We hope partnerships initiated today can be long-lasting and beneficial to local people and businesses involved.”

The Ijen 2022 International Business Matching involved 2,196 coffee farmers from 11 different business groups in East Java (Banyuwangi, Bondowoso and Situbondo), Bali and Yogyakarta, with a total land area of more than 9,000 hectares. The types of coffee promoted include Arabica, Robusta, Excelsa, and Liberica, with different processing styles according to the characteristics of each business group.

Photo session with keynote speakers from the Canadian Embassy to Indonesia, the Indonesian Ambassador to Canada, the Indonesian Ambassador to the Philippines, BNI MSME Business Director, and Director of PT. Sarinah.

The Business Matching event was held in one day at three different Western Indonesia times (WIB) with three different countries: the Philippines in the morning, Germany in the afternoon and with Canada in the evening Jakarta time. There were three talk shows broadcast simultaneously  which discussed the export performance of Indonesian SMEs during the COVID-19 pandemic as well as the challenges and opportunities of SME exports to Canada, Germany, and the Philippines.

A total of 14 coffee producers in the first session met online with potential buyers from the Philippines. From the meeting, PT. Sarinah and NSLIC will facilitate the delivery of product samples to prospective buyers and discuss the continuation of the collaboration process.

Deputy Chief of Mission of Indonesian to Germany Yul Edison said that in the last five years Germany imported 1.2 million tons of coffee with an average consumption of about 6.5 kilograms per capita per year. The second session resulted in cooperation between buyers from Germany and PT. Sarinah to buy coffee from the Ijen area. One of the buyers from Germany, My Bali Coffee, said that they need 200 tons of coffee in a year to be marketed in 3,000 of their partner retail stores in Germany.

The last session of the evening was with potential buyers from Canada. Archipelago, Nusa Coffee, and two other investors from Canada are interested in taking coffee samples from coffee producers in the Ijen area and will cooperate with PT. Sarinah for the next process. They are very interested in knowing more about the coffee processing process in Indonesia and how coffee products in Indonesia can be adapted to the needs of their business.

The first talk show session discussed the opportunities and challenges of exporting to the Philippines.

The 2022 International Business Matching was supported by the Indonesian Coordinating Ministry for Maritime Affairs and Investment; the Ministry of Villages, Development of Disadvantaged Regions, and Transmigration; the Ministry of Foreign Affairs; PT. Sarinah (Persero) and Bank Negara Indonesia (BNI).

“NSLIC is pleased to help promote international business linkages for small and micro Indonesian coffee producers to help reinforce stable employment and increase incomes for poor women and men.  We are confident that the international exposure which the Ijen event provides will result in many new and rewarding long-term business partnerships to the benefit of small local producers and their families”, said the NSLIC/NSELRED Project Director Peter Walton.

In August 2021, the NSLIC/NSELRED project successfully held two Business Meetings, one in Belitung and one in Bali. The first was the Business Meeting for Belitung’s SMEs that focused on pepper sales. It involved around 800 pepper farmers with a total land area of 1,100 hectares, and resulted in 7 cooperation agreements between the pepper farmer groups with investors.  The second was the Bali Business Meeting in October 2021 which involved some 500 business actors/SMEs, most of them farmers, fishers and craftspeople from Buleleng, Klungkung, and Tabanan. The Bali Business Meeting resulted in 24 cooperation agreement between the SMEs, the local governments and the Trading Investors, Trading Support Investors, and Development Investors.

We have also created a catalog and a video which can be accessed via the following link.

Catalogue: https://bit.ly/3618gLG 

Video – Kabar Baik Dari Ijen: https://bit.ly/3Co1HiC 

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