INDONESIA

Feedback from the Trade on Their Plans and Interest in the USA Pear Season:

According to the importers, Red Anjou has not been popular in Jakarta, so they moved the stock to Medan city since there is a demand of Red Anjou in Medan. The movement of USA Pears - especially Green Anjou - is quite fast and most of the fruit stores have displays of USA Pears.

Expectations for Any Freight or Logistics Challenges:

None at this time.

Opportunities in Your Market for Specific Varieties, Sizes, and Grades:

In Indonesia, the most popular varieties of USA Pears are Red Anjou, Green Anjou and also Bosc with size 70-80 and US#1 grade.

Update on the Competition in the Market:

Beside their pears, high competition is still from China with any kind of fruits such as mandarins, oranges and also grapes. For Christmas, New Year and Chinese New Year, more air flown fruits also arrived, such as premium strawberries from Korea and jumbo and premium blueberries from California and Australia.

Political or Economic Issues Impacting Imports, Retail, or Consumer Behavior:

The Indonesian Rupiah continues to weaken and finally broke the level of Rp. 16.000/ USD. The government also has a new regulation to increase tax from 11% to 12%, which would has an impact on higher prices for consumer goods.

Other Brief Comments:

In December, Super Indo continued to expand its retail chain with opening eight new stores in one month.