BUSINESS MATCHING SEAWEED PROCESSING INDUSTRY WITH END USER INDUSTRY

The Directorate of Food, Marine, and Fisheries Products Industry, under the Directorate General of Agro-based Industry, organized a Business Matching event on August 23rd, 2022, at The Westin Surabaya Ballroom as the first Business Matching event held by the Ministry of Industry in collaboration with Indonesia Seaweed Industry Association (ASTRULI) to increase the usage of agar-agar and carrageenan additives in the domestic application industry.

The opening session was welcomed by the Director of Food, Marine Products and Fisheries Industry, Mr. Emil Satria, and the Head of Division Industry Agro, Department of Industry and Trade of East Java, Mr. Hery Wiriantoro.

The Business Matching event received good attention from the audiences, especially for industrial applications or users of hydrocolloid products such as the meat processing industry – canned fish and frozen products, milk and chocolate processing industry, pharmaceutical and personal care industry, jam, flour, and bakery industry, paint industry and many more.

The session continued with an interactive discussion from two speakers, Mr. Pujo Setio, Assistant Deputy for Plantation Agribusiness Development, Deputy II for Coordination: Food and Agribusiness, Coordinating Ministry for Economic Affairs, talking about Policy and Development Indonesian Seaweed Industry, and then continued by Mrs. Iskak Indrayani, The Local Expert CBI The Netherlands with topic Developments – Trends Hydrocolloid Application in Global Market. Presentation of industrial profile and the usage of hydrocolloid product was delivered from 13 participants as representative of agar-agar and carrageenan producers from ASTRULI, Airlangga University who manufactures capsule shells from carrageenan, and Evogaia Karya Indonesia who processed seaweed for biodegradable packaging.

During the Business Matching event, Mr. Lino Paravano, ASTRULI’s expert in hydrocolloid application and the President Director of Java Biocolloid Europe Srl Italia, virtually presented “Brief Seaweed Hydrocolloid Application” and then continued with Q&A session with all the participants.

Assistant Deputy for Plantation Agribusiness Development, Mr. Pujo Setio, said: “The implementation of Business Matching by the Ministry of Industry is very good, and the end-user can replace importing hydrocolloid products by buying agar-agar and carrageenan products domestically to develop the upstream and downstream seaweed industry as a whole process.”

“Business Matching activities will increase the market of processed seaweed product in East Java, GRDP economy of East Java’s which currently increases by 5.4% and also synchronize with support from the Governor is Nawa Bhakti Satya Jatim Agro program. Furthermore, the activity is expected to motivate East Java’s processing and application industries to develop innovations and variations of processed products,” by Head of Division Industry Agro, Mr. Hery Wiriantoro.