Jakarta. The government announced Sunday that China had so far approved over 600 Indonesian fish processing facilities for exports, thus paving the way for greater bilateral trade.

Ishartini, who heads the quality control body at the Fishery Ministry, said that these facilities had earned a registration number which are necessary for customs clearance. The number of registered facilities is also on the rise.

“Most recently, the General Administration of Customs of the People's Republic of China had rolled out permits for 8 new units. This has brought the total [approved] facilities to 638 units,” Ishartini was quoted as saying by state news agency Antara.

Indonesia currently exports 1,080 types of fishery commodities to China. They include frozen squid, eucheuma cottonii seaweed, gracilaria seaweed, frozen ribbon fish, among others.

In 2025, the China-bound fishery export volume totaled 491,528 tons and valued at $1.04 billion. Overall fishery exports that year hit $6.27 billion, up 5.2% year-on-year (yoy). Trade Ministry data showed general export-import activities with China totaled $154.6 billion last year.

The government urged the greenlit exporters to remain committed in adopting sanitation and hygiene standards. 

"This is to maintain [our] product acceptance [overseas] and strengthen international confidence, which will ultimately boost our competitiveness," Ishartini said.