Indonesia Accelerates Seafood Exports with China and Turkey Approval Wins
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- Indonesia’s MMAF secures approvals for 57 fish processors to export to China and Turkey, boosting 2025 trade volumes amid new systems like Turkey’s TROIS.
- With 52 units approved for Turkey and 5 for China, Indonesian seafood like tuna and seaweed eyes bigger shares in promising markets worth billions.
- MMAF emphasizes quality and diversification after key deals, sustaining jobs and exports of 1,080 fishery types to China alone last year.
Indonesia’s Ministry of Marine Affairs and Fisheries (MMAF) is expanding its global footprint for fishery products after securing agreements with Turkey’s Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry and China’s General Administration of Customs (GACC). This greenlights approval numbers for 57 proposed fish processing units (FPUs) submitted by the MMAF.
The issuance of these approval numbers now allows the 57 fishery businesses to export fish and other seafood products to Turkey and China, said Ishartini, head of the MMAF’s Marine and Fisheries Product Quality Control and Supervision Agency (Quality Agency), in a statement from Jakarta on Saturday (Feb. 21, 2026).
Ishartini noted that the Quality Agency moved swiftly to finalize deals with both countries. The submission process went beyond a simple list—it involved technical verifications and detailed questionnaires required by Turkish and Chinese authorities. This ensures all approved FPUs hold HACCP certification and meet rigorous standards for sanitation, hygiene, and food safety in fish production.
Of the 56 FPUs proposed to Turkey, 52 have received approval numbers, with four still under verification. For China, all five proposed FPUs were approved outright, bringing the total to five units cleared by Chinese authorities, Ishartini added.
She emphasized the urgency of the Turkey approvals ahead of their new import system, the Approved Establishment System of the Republic of Türkiye (TROIS). Only approved companies listed in TROIS can export fish and fishery products there.
“Turkey represents a promising market for Indonesian seafood,” Ishartini said. In 2025, Indonesia’s top seven exports to Turkey included skipjack tuna, tuna, carrageenan, sardines, lemuru, octopus, and seaweed products, totaling 2,600 tons valued at $4.6 million (Rp78.6 billion).
Ishartini highlighted that Indonesia exports 1,080 types of fishery commodities to China. Last year’s exports to China reached 491,528 tons worth $1.04 billion (Rp17.46 trillion). The top 10 included frozen squid, Eucheuma cottonii seaweed, Gracilaria seaweed, frozen ribbonfish, dried Eucheuma cottonii, dried Gracilaria, Eucheuma spinosum, frozen leatherjacket fish, and frozen croaker fish.
MMAF Minister Sakti Wahyu Trenggono has repeatedly stressed the importance of quality assurance and diversification in the fisheries sector to sustain supply chains and production involving vast numbers of workers. Diversification covers both commodity types and export destinations.
Indonesianpost.com | Republika
