Indonesia: shrimp export volume

In 2021, Indonesia exported around 250.7 thousand metric tons of shrimp. Indonesia is one of the world's largest shrimp exporters. Recently, the government set an ambitious goal of being the world’s largest shrimp producer and raising the nation’s shrimp export earnings by 250 percent by 2024.

Rapid shrimp aquaculture developments across Indonesia

To achieve this target, the Ministry of Marine Affairs and Fisheries of Indonesia aims to develop an additional 200 thousand hectares of shrimp ponds across the country. In recent years, shrimp farming in Indonesia has grown rapidly beyond the long-standing farms in Lampung and East Java, with new farming areas being developed in Sulawesi and the eastern parts of Indonesia, especially East Nusa Tenggara. These new aquaculture establishments are supposed to support Indonesia’s shrimp production and export earnings in the future.

Challenges facing the shrimp farming sector in Indonesia

However, the infrastructure still needs to be developed extensively to reach the target. The low number of feed mills has led to shortages of fish meal production. The country still relies heavily on fish meal imports to meet current demand. Short-term expansions, however, could result in ecological disaster. Indonesia’s aquaculture farmers are already facing water quality issues due to deforestation. Moreover, to reduce disease outbreaks that cause significant economic losses, shrimp farmers would need good biosecurity measures and hygiene protocols. These are crucial to upholding healthy shrimp, reducing the disease outbreaks in aquaculture facilities, and harvesting high-quality products.