Jakarta (Bisnis) – Indonesia managed to become the nation with the largest export among the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) countries after the country's export in 2018 reached US$762 billion, according to Halal Lifestyle Center Chairman Sapta Nirwandar.

Among OIC members, Indonesia controls 3.07 percent of exports ahead of Malaysia (2.07 percent) and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) (2.02 percent).

Unfortunately, most of the exported goods are raw materials. Sapta said that this is mainly caused by the lack of Indonesian downstream products with halal certification, especially in the food and beverage segment.

"We are still exporting raw materials, such as vegetable oil, tea, coffee, and fisheries products. This is a contrast to other OIC nations that are starting to export products with added-value or upstream products," said Sapta on Wednesday, July 10.

This causes Indonesia's downstream exports cannot compete with similar commodities from Malaysia, which the majority have halal licenses. This situation also fears to weaken Indonesia's exports among non-OIC nations such as Vietnam.

He called for Indonesian producers to certify their products with halal licenses to broaden export destinations.

Source: https://en.tempo.co/read/1223100/indonesias-export-dilemma-among-oic-countries