Contributor: Agus Manggala

Translated by: Okta Sidharta

Article in Indonesia: LINK

The entrepreneurs of processed beverages from Treste, Italy, plan to import coffee products from Semendo Sub-Districts, Muara Enim Regency, South Sumatra Province. They rate the taste of Semendo coffee suitable to be the main raw material of processed beverage industry in their country.

That is one of the conclusions of the visit from Italian coffee entrepreneurs to the government of South Sumatra Province and Palembang City, Friday (14/9). The event was attended by governors and several government officials. The visit lasted for two days.

The head of South Sumatra Plantation Department, Syamuil Chatib, said, Semendo coffee is one of the coffee products that are considered to be special and to be South Sumatra original. Based on the agreement with Italian entrepreneurs, they are willing to import Semendo coffee powder with premium buying price, which is 7.5 U$ (around Rp 70,000) per kilogram.

Syamuil added, around 60% of the total Semendo coffee products of 20,000 ton per year will be exported by sea to Port Treste, Italy. Currently, Semendo coffee dominates the coffee production in South Sumatra, with a total planting area of 20,000 ha and involving 15,000 local farmers.

“This trade cooperation is a business to business, not government to government. This means it is purely entrepreneurs to farmers, between the Association of Indonesian Coffee Exporters (AEKI) and Specialty Italian Coffee Association “Syamuil said.

According to Syamuil, there has been the impression that coffee is a commodity that is less ogled because it is considered to be less potentially competitive in international markets. “Indonesian coffee is different to rubber. Indonesia is quite respected internationally as one of the rubber exporting countries since long time ago, “he said.

One of the coffee industry development constraints in South Sumatra, said Syamuil, is the lack of innovative packaging products and the need for increased standardization in the field of processing quality. “However, the government continues to try and help facilitate the farmers and producers in Semendo to fix those two things,” he said.

Antony Zueta, one of the Italian businessmen, said that the visit from Italian businessmen to Indonesia is not only done to the South Sumatra, but also to a number of other coffee producing centers, such as Sulawesi and East Nusa Tenggara. The purpose of visit to Asia is to find a suitable coffee product for raw materials of processing industry drinks.

“In Italy, one of the central coffee-based beverage industries is in Treste, which in fact is also a port city. We hear that the Indonesian coffee has the potential to be developed. Therefore, we come to test it. Once tested, Indonesian coffee turns out to be suitable to the tastes of our customers there, “said Antony Zueta. (ONI /kompas)

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Contributor: Agus Manggala

Currently, the authors are introducing the Semendo coffee to Bandung, Jakarta, and other major cities in Java.

This coffee is originally made from the Arabica coffee and very suitable for real coffee lovers. For a little review of the Original coffee of Semendo, you can visit: Blog Cikopi

Anyone interested in trying Semendo coffee? Call Agus: 085669588493 (address: Jl Setiabudi , in front of UPI Bandung)