REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, MEDAN -- Despite producing its own cocoa beans, cocoa and chocolate industries in Malaysia still depend on exports from Indonesia, the chief of the local export section of the industry and trade office said.

"Malaysia's high demand for cocoa from North Sumatra, which is one of the cocoa-producing provinces in Indonesia, indicated their dependence," the chief of the export section of North Sumatra's industry and trade office, Fitra Kurnia, stated here on Saturday (25/10).

He added that till August, the value of North Sumatra's cocoa exports to Malaysia, Thailand and Singapore was US$21.109 million.

Kurnia further noted that the downstream cocoa industry in Malaysia had seen rapid growth, which had led to an increase in its demand for raw materials, among other requirements, to produce cocoa from Indonesia.

"The potential for cocoa exports is still high, so farmers should develop such crops," Kurnia pointed out.

Moreover, a farmer in the North Sumatra provincial village of Dairi R. Sembiring reported that the price of cocoa beans was set at around Rp30,000 per kg till October end.

Ikuti Whatsapp Channel Republika