Indonesian Tuna and Eel Potential to be Exported to Japan, Technology and Financial Supports Needed

TRIBUNBATAM.id - Indonesia has the potential to increase its fishery product market in Japan.

However, this needs to be supported by adequate technological and financial development to improve the quality of fishery products.

Japan is one of the largest food importer countries in the world. More than 11 percent of total imports are food. 

Most of the products come from the United States, China, and Canada.

But the Covid-19 outbreak that occurred in China made food imports from the country drop dramatically. In February 2020 imports from China fell 33 percent.

Now Japan is looking for imported food substitutes from China, and this could be Indonesia's opportunity especially in fishery products. China has indeed become one of the suppliers of fish needs in Japan.

Chairperson of the Indonesia-Japan Business Network (IJB-Net), Dr. Suyoto Rais stated, Japanese people have the highest level of fish consumption in the world, at least 8.86 million tons of fish are needed each year. 

According to him, tuna and eel are Indonesia's fishery products that have the potential to increase its market in Japan.

In the State of Sakura, tuna ranks first and eel sixth as the most consumed fish products. 

Japan needs around 400,000 tons of tuna each year, with 200,000 tons supplied from abroad.

But the Indonesian market in Japan is only 6,000 tons per year, only 3.5 percent of Japan's total tuna imports.

Whereas the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) noted that Indonesia is the largest tuna-producing country in the world, which is around 375,000 tons annually. 

The biggest tuna supply in Japan comes from Taiwan at 68,000 tons, China 33,000 tons, and South Korea 19,000 tons. 

According to Suyoto, the three countries have good post-capture handling, so their products are in accordance with Japanese standards. Where after being caught, the fish are immediately cleaned without the need to wait to land ashore.

In contrast to Indonesia, which really needs to be improved post-capture, where generally the caught fish is sent in a frozen state intact.