Padang (ANTARA) -
PT Duta Perkasa International, an export company from West Sumatra, made its first post-COVID-19 fresh tuna export through Minangkabau International Airport (BIM) in Padang Pariaman Regency to Japan.
 
Head of the West Sumatra Padang Fish Quarantine, Quality Control and Fishery Products Station (SKIPM) Abdur Rahman in Padang Pariaman on Thursday said that this time the shipment weighed 1,590 kilograms of fresh tuna fish departed from BIM.
 
"This is certainly encouraging because export commodity shipments can already be made from Minangkabau International Airport. This fish is taken to Japan and temporarily transits at Soekarno Hatta Airport but the commodity does not disembark, only fills in passengers and then continues the journey to Japan," he said.
 
He said he wanted all parties to work together to increase exports from West Sumatra abroad directly. Especially now that BIM has opened a trip abroad, namely Malaysia.
 
"We encourage exporters to continue to export their products abroad to turn the wheels of the economy," he said.
 
According to him, currently there are two export companies that send products to Japan, namely PT Dempo and PT Duta Perkasa. He said the number of exporters in West Sumatra was still small and only under ten but his party was committed to increasing these export businesses.
 
"We exported for the first time this time and showed that West Sumatera can export directly to both Malaysia and Japan and then to a number of other countries," he said.
 
 
Head of Operations of Airport Services (P2BU) of the Minangkabau International Airport Authority, Alphada Satriansa said that this export is an indication of economic recovery in West Sumatra. West Sumatra does not lack old resources and also does not lack enthusiasts for fishery products such as Japan.
 
"We welcome this first shipment and are ready to help," he said.
 
Meanwhile, GM Angkasa Pura II Siswanto encouraged commodity exports to also continue from West Sumatra such as fishery products, jengkol, dried fish and others.
 
"This is the first export from BIM and of course we hope that there will be many other exports from West Sumatra directly to the destination country without going through Soekarno Hatta Airport," he said.
 
Commissioner of PT Duta Perkasa Internasional Zainal said a total of 1,590 kilograms of tuna was directly requested by buyers from Japan and had made direct communication. 
 
Meeting the standards of Japan's demand is a bit tough because it must be of high quality and according to their request.
 
"If this is successfully accepted, further shipments will be easy including to a number of countries in the world because Japan's standards are very high," he said.
 
He collects this fresh tuna from a number of fishermen in West Sumatra and each fish will be sorted according to the required standards with a minimum weight of 30 kilograms.
 
"If there are 20 fish and only three meet the standard, we will only take those three fish. We will open the possibility of exporting to other countries in the near future," he said.