Indonesia to boost agricultural, plantation downstream industry to increase export

The Indonesian government is planning to strengthen the downstream processing of agricultural and plantation commodities to increase added value and foreign exchange earnings, with priority commodities including coconut, gambier, and palm oil.

Agriculture Minister Andi Amran Sulaiman said that Indonesia currently exports 2.8 million tons of coconuts annually, valued at around Rp24 trillion (US$1.4 billion). The government aims to enhance the processing of coconuts into high-value derivatives such as coconut milk and virgin coconut oil.

“The value could increase 100-fold. On average, it could generate Rp2,400 trillion. If we take half of that, multiplied by 50, it could generate Rp1,200 trillion in foreign exchange. And that’s just from coconuts,” Amran told a press conference at the Merdeka Palace in Jakarta on Thursday, October 9, 2025.

In addition to coconuts, the government also targets gambier for downstream processing. Indonesia currently supplies 80 percent of the world’s demand for gambier, which can be processed into election ink, betel nut mixture ingredients, and even shampoo.

Amran further emphasized that all export raw materials, including crude palm oil (CPO), should be processed domestically.

“Especially commodities under government control, like palm oil, we want to process from fresh fruit bunches into FAME or biofuel, cooking oil, margarine, or butter. The added value must stay in Indonesia,” he said.

To support this initiative, the Ministry of Agriculture has prepared an additional budget of Rp9.95 trillion to accelerate downstream processing projects in the agricultural and plantation sectors.

The funds will be used to provide seeds and seedlings for farmers, covering commodities such as cocoa, coffee, coconuts, cashew, and nutmeg across 800,000 hectares.

“This initiative will create 1.6 million jobs within a maximum of two years,” Amran added.

Tags: Indonesia, palm oil, coconut oil, coconut, gambier, coconut milk, exports