News
Mr. Rajmohan, of India and CEO of Commodity Trade Company in Indonesia, Mr. Joseph Adam, Director of PT. Nui Hia Prima, and Dr. Ir. Alfred Inkiriwang, Senior Advisor of PT. Nui Hia Prima, visited ICC Secretariat to discuss potential collaboration to set up an integrated Coconut Processing Unit at North Maluku, Indonesia.
Dr. Jelfina C. Alouw, Executive Director, ICC, welcomed the visitors. The Assistant Director and Market and Statistics Officer, ICC also participated in the discussion. Mr. Joseph Adam explained his plan of setting up an integrated coconut processing unit in North Maluku. He mentioned that plenty of raw materials are available, and no integrated coconut industries have been established, except one small VCO processing unit. It would be advisable to go for an integrated unit, processing the CNO, VCO, activated carbon and coir-based products to meet domestic and global markets.
Mr. Rajmohan, basically from India and staying in Indonesia for the last 28 years, expressed that since Maluku is a place where plenty of raw materials are available, it is easy and advisable to set up the unit as a collaborative project. He added that his company is doing a feasibility study to set up the units and the result will be ready by the end of November. Based on the study they can proceed further to set up the unit.
Dr. Alfred mentioned the importance of coconut milk and said it can easily replace other dairy products. He added that it is necessary to convince the government with more scientific evidence of the importance of coconut and its value-added products in human diets and to resolve stunting.
Dr. Jelfina in her address added the global importance of the various coconut products and assured the full support and guidance from ICC to proceed to set up the collaborative project. There was in-depth discussion on various issues related to the importance of coconut; scientific evidence to prove the nutrient level of coconut products and market opportunity.
The meeting concluded with a vote of thanks by the Executive Director.