JEMBER REGENT VISITED GMIT EDAMAME FACTORY TO SUPPORT EDAMAME EXPORTS

17 Oct 2022

 

Jember, 16 Oktober 2022 – PT Gading Mas Indonesia Teguh (GMIT), a subsidiary of PT Austindo Nusantara Jaya Tbk (ANJ) operated in the vegetable sector, received a visit from the Regent of Jember, Ir. H. Hendy Siswanto, on Saturday (15/10). The synergy between GMIT and the local government for the development of edamame as Jember's mainstay export commodity was the main point of discussion.

The President Director of GMIT, Imam Wahyudi, welcomed the visit and support from the Regent of Jember. GMIT has long been present among the people of Jember Regency to empower farmers through the edamame cultivation partnership program and provide jobs for more than 539 employees and more than 5,000 workers throughout the supply chain.

“Our commitment to empowering farmers is manifested by providing counselling and best agronomic practices from the GMIT team, starting from soil management, planting, and maintenance, to the harvesting process. Through the GMIT Responsible Development project, we also encourage and empower the community MSMEs around the factory location to produce innovative products from edamame soybeans by providing training to approximately 13 female workers which we named Kampung Edamame. The products currently produced are crispy edamame snacks (Crispy Edamame), edamame filled pia snacks, and peanut brittle," explained Imam.

The Regent responded positively to the company's contribution and commitment to the Jember area. "I give the highest appreciation to GMIT, because it can recruit workers, all from Jember," said Hendy.

The Regent hoped the relationship between the Regional Government of Jember Regency and GMIT can be further strengthened, especially to promote edamame as one of Jember's mainstay commodities.

"Edamame export opportunities are still wide open. Demand from Japan can reach 75,000 tons annually. Meanwhile, exports from Indonesia (Jember is the largest) are only 6000-7000 tons. The Jember Regency Government can certainly help GMIT. May it be land problems or agricultural problems, we can synergize," added Hendy.

    

GMIT's success in exporting frozen edamame to the Japanese market is due its collaboration with Asia Foods Group.  Asia Foods Group, which specialized in processing and selling frozen edamame, is one of the major players in edamame export markets with operations in Japan, the United States, Australia and is currently expanding into the European market.

The existence of edamame in Jember cannot be underestimated, because this type of green soybean has a very large export potential. Jember Regency is known as an area of ​​high edamame production and has good potential in the agricultural sector, with almost 70 percent of the population working as farmers.

Currently, GMIT's frozen vegetable production capacity reaches 6,000 tons per year and will continue to be increased since commercially operating in 2021. Prior to entering the export market, GMIT produced fresh edamame and frozen edamame under the Edashi brand which was marketed domestically, such as in Bali, East Java, Jakarta, and Central Java.

Edamame sales revenue in the first half of 2022 was US$657.1 thousand, an increase of 178.5% from US$235.9 thousand in the same period in 2021. The increase was due to a higher sales volume of fresh and frozen edamame and the selling price of frozen edamame.

"The export opportunities for frozen vegetables are still very large. We can export edamame and other frozen vegetable commodities, such as okra, which also have export markets that we can develop," concluded Imam. GMIT is a subsidiary of the ANJ Group operated in frozen vegetables with superior products, edamame, Japanese soybeans which contain high protein and antioxidants.

 

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