In a major relief to Indian exporters, Indonesia has lifted the suspension on agricultural products from New Delhi from March 25 with immediate effect.
Jakarta had suspended agricultural imports such as rice, wheat, sugar and maize from India after the latter failed to register its food safety testing laboratories, which issue certificate of analysis (COA), before the March 24 deadline. Indonesia called for fresh registrations as it had sought additional information on COAs.
In a letter to the Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA), the Indonesian Agriculture Ministry’s Agency for Agricultural Quarantine said Jakarta was approving the registration of Indian food testing labs for three years from Thursday.
Preparing annual calendar
The Ministry said prior notice should be given by every Indian agricultural or fresh food consignment exporter to Indonesia, have a COA issued by one of the registered labs besides issuing another notice before its arrival in Indonesia.
Food safety tests should not show results exceeding the maximum residue and contamination levels, the Ministry told APEDA.
APEDA Chairman M Angamuthu said 24 food safety testing laboratories have got the registration from Indonesia as per information received by the Indian embassy in Jakarta. “We will now prepare an annual calendar of various registration, renewal country-wise and product-wise,” he said, indicating that such things would not be allowed to recur.
“We will also monitor these developments regularly so that our exporters will not face any inconvenience,” he said.
Exporters, who were worried over their shipments being sent back or held mid-seas, heaved a sigh of relief.
Delayed submission
The Indonesian Agriculture Ministry also assured to clear shipments sent between March 25 and April 13 but said it was “subject to refusal”.
On March 25, the Indonesian Ministry of Agriculture, in an order to the head of its Agricultural Quarantine Centre, said its permission to Indian laboratories accredited for testing the safety of fresh food and issuing COAs stood cancelled.
The Ministry said recognition for the food safety laboratories, given in 2019, would not be valid from March 25. It, however, said certificates by these laboratories on or before March 24 would be valid.
Though Indian authorities submitted the application for registration of these laboratories on March 31, it was past the March 25 deadline, leading to a stalemate.
Indian exports to Indonesia
Exporters were concerned as Indonesia imports a good volume of sugar, wheat, rice, maize, chilli, groundnut and onion from India.
Indonesia accounted for nearly 30 per cent of sugar exports from India last season which ended on September 30, 2021. This year, too, the trend continues as Indian prices have been competitive besides the logistical advantage.
During the April-January period of 2021-22 fiscal, Indonesia has accounted for nearly 50 per cent of groundnut exports from India. Jakarta imported 2.20 lakh tonnes (lt) of groundnut shipped out by New Delhi against total shipments of 4.41 lt in the first 10 months of the last fiscal, APEDA data show.
Indonesia accounted for six per cent of wheat exports from India during April-January of 2021-22 fiscal. It purchased 3.64 lt of the 60.2 lt shipped out during the period. As regards rice, Jakarta bought 2.07 lt of rice from India, which made up 2 per cent of the total 13.9 million tonnes exported by New Delhi during April 2021-January 2022.