Indonesia’s Ministry of Industry (Kemenperin) is supporting efforts to boost the country’s chocolate or cocoa processing industry’s productivity and competitiveness.
Indonesia has great potential to become a leading global player in this industry as it currently has 11 intermediate cocoa processing industries with a capacity of 739,250 tons per year; 900 chocolate processing industries with a capacity of 462,126 tons per year; and 31 artisan chocolate/bean to bars with a capacity of 1,242 tons per year.
In 2021, the export of intermediate cocoa products such as cocoa liquor, cocoa butter, cocoa cake and cocoa powder exceeded US$1.08 billion in value and 319,430 tonnes in volume, making up 85% of Indonesia’s national production. Indonesia’s products are exported to the US, India, China and Malaysia amongst others.
The Ministry claimed that Indonesia is No.3 in the world in terms of the chocolate processing industry after the Netherlands and Côte d’Ivoire.
The Director General of Agro-Industry is encouraging partnerships between the cocoa processing industry and farmers to ensure continuity, consistency and quality in production of raw materials. The Ministry of Industry meanwhile hopes to boost development of the downstream industry, adding value through product diversification and development of fine flavour cocoa based on geographical indications. One of the area of interest is the development of artisan chocolate or bean-to-bar. Presently, the market share of artisan chocolate only accounts for 2% of domestic chocolate consumption which is dominated by industrial and confectionary chocolate. Artisan chocolate has the opportunity to contribute up to 10% share in Indonesia, added the Director General.
The Kemenperin will encourage the development of domestic artisan chocolate, as it is not inferior in quality to global chocolate producers. The raw material used for artisan chocolate is well-fermented premium cocoa beans usually sold at Rp 50,000 (US$3.35) per kg, 43% higher in value than the cocoa beans purchased by the industry. This translates to better income for the local cocoa farmers in Indonesia.
Fifteen years ago, Indonesia was the world’s largest producer of cocoa raw materials, namely cocoa beans, and it hopes to revive back this position sometime in the future. During the period 2004-2011, Indonesia produced around 500,000 to 600,000 tons of cocoa beans annually, however this figure has dwindled over the past years to 200,000 tonnes currently, said a spokesperson from Barry Callebaut.
