Jakarta, CNBC Indonesia – The food and beverage industry sector is the largest contributor to the contribution of the non-oil and gas processing industry sector which is the backbone of the Indonesian economy.
Until the first quarter of 2024, the GDP structure of the non-oil and gas processing industry was dominated by the food and beverage industry, which contributed 39.91%, or 6.47% of the total National GDP.
This figure is added to the export value of the food and beverage industry in April 2024 which reached 2.71 billion USD or 19.4% of non-oil and gas processing industry exports and is the second largest export after the basic metal industry sector.
“Of this value, some of it is the contribution of food and beverage SMEs totaling around 1.7 million business units, absorbing around 3.6 million workers, making it a labor-intensive industry,” said the Director General of Small, Medium and Miscellaneous Industries at the Ministry of Industry, Reni Yanita, at the Kick Off of Indonesia Food Innovation (IFI) 2024, Ministry of Industry, Thursday (6/6/2024).
Referring to the data, it can be seen that food and beverage SMEs play an important role as a component of community empowerment in Indonesia.
However, on the other hand, there are still problems that are obstacles to the progress of SMEs, including limited capital, unprofessional management, unfulfilled standards and business legality, and limited innovation.
From the external side, SMEs are also faced with various challenges in running their business such as uncertainty in the supply of raw materials, the presence of competitors and new products, as well as highly fluctuating market demand.
“Speaking of market demand, in addition to the domestic market which is the main market, in this era of globalization it has opened up opportunities for Indonesian food and beverage SMEs to market their products at the international level. For that, SMEs need to prepare themselves to adapt and innovate by reading market trends and needs, both domestic and export markets,” said Reni.