Large Market for Indonesian Food Products in the Netherlands
Food product exports from Indonesia to the Netherlands have increased according to Wim Jansen, Commercial Manager at NIVO Import & Export BV, Netherlands-based importer and exporter of Asian food products. About 45 percent of the company’s imports constitute food products from Indonesia, reaching a value of 3.5 million euro per year. Some popular Indonesian food products that are imported into the Netherlands are chili sauce, soy sauce, crackers (krupuk), various spices and noodles.
Jansen said that the is plenty of room for further growth of Indonesian food product imports into the Netherlands as there exists a major market for these products in the Netherlands. Due to the long historic relation between both countries, many Indonesian people as well as about one million people from Indonesian descent live in the Netherlands. Moreover, the Netherlands can function as the distributor for Indonesian products into other European countries. Jansen said that the main challenges that are currently being faced by NIVO are the continuity of food production in Indonesia and price competition in Europe. By mid-2015, NIVO plans to distribute Indonesian food products to 600 supermarket branches spread across the Netherlands. Each outlet will sell at least 25 Indonesian products.
NIVO requested the assistance of the Indonesian Embassy in the Netherlands to facilitate further growth of Indonesian products into the Netherlands, in line with Indonesian government programs to enhance the country’s export performance (important to improve the wide current account deficit that has been putting pressure on the Indonesian rupiah exchange rate). The Embassy stated that it is committed to support Dutch entrepreneurs to import goods from Indonesia. Previously, the Indonesian Embassy met the Dutch distributor of Polygon, a Surabaya-based bicycle manufacturer. In the Netherlands, where bicycles are an important form of transportation, there may be a lucrative market for these Indonesian-manufactured bikes.