Jakarta, 29 November 2021 -- PT Bank Negara Indonesia (Persero), Tbk (BNI) in collaboration with the digital B2B e-commerce platform MadeinIndonesia.com, Consulate General of the Republic of Indonesia in Sabah, and West Java Industry Service are collaborating again.
After exploring the Philippine cosmetic market, the collaboration of these four institutions has now opened up opportunities for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) to take advantage of the Business Meeting forum with prospective buyers from Malaysia in the Indonesian Food dan Beverage Virtual Exhibition.
The MSME Business Director of BNI, Muhammad Iqbal said, the performance of international trade between Indonesia and Malaysia was in a very good condition this year.
Data from Ministry of Trade shows that the total trade between Indonesia and Malaysia for the period of January to September 2021 has reached US$ 15.05 billion, or has increased 46.4% on an annual basis. This trading performance has even begun to approach the trend before the pandemic period which reached around US$17 billion.
Iqbal said the Business Meeting for the export of food and beverage products to Malaysia is also one of the efforts to improve the performance of Indonesia-Malaysia foreign trade.
"Moreover, BNI as an international bank is indeed tasked to help Indonesian businessmen to be able to penetrate the global market. We hope this business meeting ends with a business agreement with great value in order to continue to encourage the spirit of MSMEs to go global," he said.
He said, Indonesia has a similar culture with Malaysia so that there are many similarities in food and beverage products. BNI also has many fostered MSME debtors who are not only able to produce quality food and beverages, but are also competitive to enter the Land of Indigenous Malays.
Furthermore, Iqbal said, in global trade, many facilities prepared by BNI Xpora are used, including trade finance in the form of an export advisory Letter of Credit (L/C) to be issued by the buyer for several shipments of these Food and Beverage products. This service is provided for buyers from Malaysia for these types of products, as well as buyers for other Indonesian export products.
Iqbal explained, BNI Xpora is a one stop solution for export-oriented SMEs. Through BNI Xpora, SMEs get support in the form of increasing production capacity and quality, education in the preparation of financial reports, to support for access to product marketing abroad through business matchmaking with buyers in the global market. "In addition, BNI Xpora also provides digital features in the form of Fast Trex financing with lower collateral and costs, especially for export players," he added.
Strengthening Trade Balance
Meanwhile, the Trade Attaché of the Republic of Indonesia in Malaysia, Deden Muhammad Fajar Shiddiq, said that exhibitions such as the Indonesian Food dan Baverage Virtual Exhibition would greatly help MSMEs to penetrate new markets overseas, including the MSMEs fostered by BNI. This effort to penetrate the Malaysian market will also strengthen Indonesia's balance of trade and exports to the neighbouring country, which is currently very good.
Malaysia's economic performance has also improved after the pandemic, as shown by an increase in public consumption which leads to an increase in public demand for imported goods, including Food and Beverage products from Indonesia.
Deden said that Indonesian food and beverage products have a quite strong potential to increase their penetration in Malaysia. This is due to geographical factors that are very close so that the logistics burden is lower than other trading partner countries. Furthermore, there are also demographic factors that cause many similarities in culture and culture, as well as the type of favourite food. Indonesia also has a large and strong diaspora in Malaysia which makes Indonesian products already have their own market in Malaysia.
In addition, from a regulatory perspective, Malaysia is relatively loose in regulating food and beverage imports, not as strict as countries in Europe, America, and East Asia. "However, we must always be ready to equip ourselves with various certifications such as halal certification, health certification, and other technical certifications in order to increase Malaysian consumer confidence and competitiveness," he concluded.
BNI Xpora at a Glance
BNI Xpora was launched for the first time in conjunction with the Opening Ceremony of the Indonesia Trade Expo Indonesia (TEI) 2021 which was carried out by the Ministry of Trade of the Republic of Indonesia in Jakarta, 21 October 2021. The event was attended by the President of the Republic Indonesia, Joko Widodo, the Trade Minister, Muhammad Luthfi and other Indonesian Advanced Cabinet Ministers.
BNI Xpora is BNI's one stop shopping solution for SME business players who want to develop their business towards Go Productive, Go Digital, and Go Global SMEs. Digital Platform Xpora is a tool of BNI's one stop shopping for prospective SMEs who want to start a business and SMEs who want to develop their business.