Banana Republic’s Low Fruit Trade
Nov 28th, 2011, in Business & Economy, Featured, IM Posts, by Chris24 Comments on “Banana Republic’s Low Fruit Trade”
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Oigal says:
November 28th, 2011 at 8:51 pmGee, I wonder why? Perhaps because most indonesian fruit is riddled with parasites and disease. Indonesian quarantine procedures are a joke and compromised by brown paper bags anyway. It’s a nonsense to suggest it’s a anti Indonesian thing, New Zealand has been battling for decades to get apples into OZ.
As for fish, Indonesians all know there is a very good chance that fish you bought at the market has been soaked in chemicals..
It’s requires a degree of professionalism to enter prime markets so I can’t see much changing in the near future.
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David says:
November 29th, 2011 at 7:16 amI can remember seeing on the tv showing how they injected – I think it was watermelons – with a colouring agent.
The Australian
nannyadvanced progressive state has such exhaustive regulations for the minutiae of things like this, especially food obviously, that if NZ can’t manage it with apples then the Indonesian fruit industry, which I’d gather is run on much more still ‘traditional’ lines than most other industries, is unlikely to have much hope. -
deta says:
November 29th, 2011 at 9:11 amShould the Indonesian Trade Minister, Gita Wiryawan, try to obtain permission to export fruit to Australia?
Taking advantage of the flood in Thailand, it might be a good timing.
But it may be the issue of chemical residue from pesticide and fertilizer that Indonesian fruits cannot comply with International standard. One problem with Indonesian fruit industry is there are more small-scale over large-scale growers, so it is a challenge in itself to manage these small farmers to perform good agricultural practices to meet the food safety standard.
And just by looking at that poor tukang becak who carried huge bunches of bananas – while considering the fragile nature of the fruits-, it is clear that distribution handling is the other problem.
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paul says:
November 29th, 2011 at 9:38 amyou haven’t said what diseases,Indonesian produce has…you didn’t say it was all disease free….and quality..let’s start there..Australian import laws are strict,that’s why they have kept a lot of diseses out of the country..
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November 29th, 2011 at 10:34 amPaul, put the chemical residue aside, I never know there is a serious disease caused by fruits other than diarrhea (which mostly caused by unhygienic handling, not the fruit itself). If anything, more variety of fruits can help Australians to overcome the obesity epidemic.
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Chris says:
November 29th, 2011 at 11:44 amHi Oigal and David,
New Zealand has been battling for decades to get apples into OZ.
if NZ can’t manage it with apples
You might not have heard, but the latest news is that New Zealand took their case to the World Trade Organisation and won, so now Australia has to allow imports of New Zealand apples. If Australia ignores the ruling (the Trade Minister said he wouldn’t, but hypothetically) then NZ is allowed to slap retaliatory tarriffs or bans on Australian products.
Whether any shops will stock them or anyone will buy them is another matter…
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Oigal says:
November 29th, 2011 at 12:35 pmIt was an example Chris to highlight the point it was not a anti Indonesia thing as some would rush to say, there are endless barriers to importing food into Australia and even state to state. As Deta pointed out a non existent distribution system, no quality control and general poor hygiene practices rule out any real possibility of anything substantial happening. Like all things for this to be a success it would require government and private investment with a focus on outcomes not another house in Pondok Indah therefore you can safely say, ain’t gunna happen.
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Chris says:
November 29th, 2011 at 2:02 pmHi Oigal,
To an extent I agree with you. Still, I wouldn’t have thought Indonesia’s distribution systems/levels of hygiene/quality control were that much worse than other developing countries listed by Ian Siagian. As he said:
If Thai fruits, Philippine fruits and even Pakistani mangoes can enter Australia, why not Indonesian mangoes and bananas?
I can’t say I have been to any of these countries to know what it’s like first hand, but I do remember US actress Claire Danes once described Manila (after shooting a movie there) as a:
ghastly and weird city
that
smelled of cockroaches, with rats all over, and that there is no sewerage system.
(Small tangent: Sounds a little like Jakarta, if you ask me. The Philippines’ government responded by banning all her movies).
I also would have thought Thailand and the Philippines had a similar level of development/infrastructure to Indonesia.
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itinerantman says:
November 29th, 2011 at 9:37 pm“you say tamaters, i say tomatoes etc” but seriously all you knowledgeable indo’s & expats-i am a newbie in indonesia but i like it! want to settle down in bali and do some business-have contacts in india & the states-any suggestions?? and no-i’m not bananas!!
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Oigal says:
November 30th, 2011 at 12:10 amChris..I coud be wrong but I would think the market from those countries is pretty marginal. Australia is seriously anal ( and that is not a bad thing in this case) about quarantine
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stevo says:
December 4th, 2011 at 10:42 amSurely Indonesian growers and suppliers could meet the requirements, if the financial incentive is there. They may have to make some changes, but it is not an insurmountable problem, especially if started on a smaller scale to first establish the proper systems. I think quarantine regulations are often used to protect local industries, in Australia.
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Oigal says:
December 4th, 2011 at 11:10 amStevo,
It has little to do with the local growers but more to do with the level of trust at international level of the Indonesan Government. Seriously who would put any faith in any document or procedure issued or implemented by the Indonesian Goverment to ensure food quality (the tainted milk issue springs to mind).
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berlian biru says:
December 5th, 2011 at 11:52 amthe tainted milk issue springs to mind
I thought that was China.
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stevo says:
December 5th, 2011 at 11:54 amI see your point Oigal and share those concerns. However they do manage to work to higher standards in some areas. I recently noticed a popular vitamin supplement that is made in, and exported from, Indonesia, for example. Also there was a time when much the same thing was said of products made in Japan and look at it now!
I may be overly optimistic, but I would like to think Indonesia could aspire to higher things and something like this would be a step in that direction.
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Oigal says:
December 5th, 2011 at 12:36 pmBB,
I was referring to the rather disturbing incident where IPB knew damn well that some suppliers were distributing contaminated infant formula milk. Worse they refused a court order to name the irresponsible and evil parties involved. Although that horrible example of humanity and disgrace to Indonesia, the Bogor Mayor and major political parties have pretty much indicated to the world their contempt for the rule of law in the continued illegal harassment of that church in Bogor. Once again it’s a typical case of a tax funded organization abusing the people’s trust and protecting those with the blood money.Of course, it you want to talk agricultural irresponsibility. You need look no further than the Bird Flu crisis. Singapore (and most other nations) stopped importing (and banned) poultry products from Indonesia 8 months before the Indonesian government even admitted they had a problem. Now the cynical amongst us would say that was to provide time for a little short nasty gnome to offload his exposure in the Industry whereas other more generous types would just say TII.
For more…
http://www.jakartaupdates.com/991-01/indonesian-milk-contamination-brouhaha
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Chris says:
December 14th, 2011 at 8:34 pmInteresting comment from a new report about the price of Australian goods, featuring bananas:
Australia has become one of the most expensive countries in the world and consumers largely have the Government to thank, new research suggests.
Bananas, books, cars, housing and retail are all areas where Australians are paying too much, according to Dr Hartwich.
“We are always told we are living in this miracle economy, the envy of the world, the one economy that survived the GFC, and it’s all true, but ordinary consumers do not feel they are living in this blessed economy – they actually feel ripped off and overcharged,” Dr Hartwich said.
In the case of bananas, the report notes that even before Cyclone Yasi, we were paying $2.30 per kilo, which is more expensive than in New Zealand, the UK, France and the US.
“Australians regularly pay more for their bananas compared to say a country like Germany where they don’t even grow bananas,” Dr Hartwich said.
He says given bananas are Australia’s top-selling fruit and each person consumes about 13 kilograms of bananas a year, they should be allowed to be imported from the Philippines – even if only into non-banana growing states.
“The Australian banana industry is not actually that big. They make it sound like a really important part of the Australian economy when in fact it isn’t,” he said.
“It’s an industry that is really focused in a few locations and employs a few thousand people, not tens of thousands, but then basically all the rest of the country – the other 22 million people – have to pay the price for that.
“I’m not against Australian farmers or against buying Australian bananas, but you need to have the choice.
“In the end you have to consider the needs of lower-income Australians. Why do they have to pay for farmers that are probably richer than them?”
The counterpoint, later in the same article:
Dr John Quiggin from the University of Queensland’s School of Economics says while Australia is certainly expensive at present, this primarily reflects the strength of the Australian dollar rather than government policies.
“Some government policies raise costs, but the selection of examples in this report suggests this is pretty marginal,” he said.
“Only a minority of consumers are affected by the luxury car tax and banana prices are high only in the aftermath of a cyclone. The price has already fallen back below $2 a kilo.”
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Geosya says:
December 14th, 2011 at 8:36 pmThe power of banana..
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kingwilly says:
January 8th, 2012 at 3:17 pmNot to mention the actual quality of Indonesian food is usually below par…
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Yaser Antone says:
January 19th, 2012 at 4:53 pmAll the pretexts from racist country like Auscriminalia to ban any import from indonesia based on their proud to be born as pigmentless skin people. Indonesia can easily retaliate it by banning importation of some selected comodities from that country too. Let them know that their country just an unimportant market with a small population who the majority of them still believe that australian continent is situated very close to europe, so they can preserve racism tendencies without any worry to be isolated by neighboring countries.
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January 20th, 2012 at 8:35 amOuch!
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andrew lai says:
February 3rd, 2012 at 6:00 amYaser Antone, I looked up the word MORON in the dictionary…..your name was next to it!
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February 3rd, 2012 at 6:57 pmandrew lai, its unwise to announce or publish your illiteracy to the whole world.
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Oigal says:
February 3rd, 2012 at 8:09 pmits unwise to announce or publish your illiteracy to the whole world.
Good advice Yaser, our Arab friend..
Indonesia can easily retaliate it by banning importation of some selected comodities from that country too.
ROFLMAO
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Chris says:
February 17th, 2012 at 6:31 pmUPDATE:
Indonesia is now restricting the number of ports that can receive fruit and vegetable imports.
Fresh produce farmers are bracing for another blow as Indonesia clamps down on Australian food exports.
Indonesia became a free trade partner with Australia earlier this year, but next month will restrict fresh produce from entering most of its main ports.
It claims concerns over quarantine and illegal imports are driving the introduction of stricter regulations.
Australian fruit and vegetable exporters say it is already taking a toll on profits.
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The new regulations will prevent shipping of Australian fruit and vegetables to all but four Indonesian ports.
“I’m told that some of the infrastructure there isn’t suitable to receive their produce. They’re very concerned about their cold chain survival,” Senator Colbeck said.
“There’s discussion about having to unpack containers and put their produce onto local transport 1,700 kilometres into where the markets are.
“And they’re very concerned about the the extra time but also the potential damage to produce because they lose their cold chain supply.”
For more detail, please see here.
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