Indonesia–China Spice Trade: Opportunities, Challenges, and Strategic Export Responses

Abstract

Indonesia is one of the world’s leading spice producers, supported by rich biodiversity, favorable agro-climatic conditions, and a long tradition of spice cultivation. China has become a strategic export destination due to its growing food, pharmaceutical, traditional medicine, and cosmetics industries. This study aims to analyze the opportunities, challenges, and strategic responses in Indonesia–China spice trade. A mixed-method approach was used by combining quantitative analysis of export data from BPS, the Ministry of Trade, and international trade databases with qualitative analysis through literature review. The results show that China accounted for 33.6% of Indonesia’s exports of medicinal, aromatic, and spice crops in 2024, making it the largest export market. The main opportunities include strong market demand, ACFTA tariff preferences, increasing demand for organic products, and Indonesia’s comparative advantage in spice production. However, Indonesia still faces several challenges, such as non-tariff barriers, competition from Vietnam and India, exchange rate volatility, and climate-related production risks. Therefore, this study recommends strengthening economic diplomacy, improving product certification, increasing value-added processing, diversifying export markets, and adopting digital traceability systems to enhance Indonesia’s competitiveness in the Chinese market.