www.chinaview.cn 2009-12-29 20:03:55
JAKARTA, Dec. 29 (Xinhua) -- The Indonesian Agriculture Ministry rejected Japan's accusation that cocoa from Indonesia contained dangerous chemical compound at more than dangerous level, a senior official of the ministry said here Tuesday.
In March, Japan lodged a complaint on Indonesia over the country's cocoa exported to Japan from Singapore, saying that it had 2,4-Dichlorophenoxyacetic Acid (2,4-D) at the level of more than 0.01 ppm (parts per million), which is dangerous for health, according to the ministry.
Director General for Plantation of the ministry Achmad Manggabarani said that Indonesia followed up the dissatisfaction and established some tests on the commodity. The result of the tests showed that the 2,4-D content was very small and it was not at dangerous level.
The director said that his ministry would deliver the result soon to the government of Japan and would conduct a government-to-government approach.
"Although our cocoa exports to Japan is small, but, we must clear this issue, this is about the image of our products. We must manage the good image at the international market," he said.
Indonesia's cocoa export to Japan from January to July this year was about 1,136 ton, according to the data from the ministry.
Indonesia also exports its cocoa to the United States, Brazil, China, Singapore and Malaysia.
The country exported 350,000 tons of cocoa in 2008 and the figure is predicted to be flat this year and next year.
Indonesia is the world's third largest cocoa producer after Ivory Coast and Ghana.
No comments:
Post a Comment