Asean-C FTA Readiness

It seems that not all industries are pessimistic about the Asean-China Free Trade Agreement that starts on 1 January 2010.
According to Tempointeraktif the Food and Beverage industries are ready. I hope that the others would also be optimistic.

Food and Beverage Industry Optimistic in Facing ASEAN- China FTA
Monday, 18 January, 2010 | 14:52 WIB

TEMPO Interactive, Surabaya:The Indonesian Food and Beverage Association (Gapmmi) chairman Thomas Darmawan, is optimistic that all food and beverage businesses in Indonesia will remain competitive, despite the ASEAN –China free trade.

“Our products are still preferred over Chinese products,” Thomas said on Monday.

This can be seen from the increasing turnover of local food and beverage businesses. In 2007, the turnover of these two products amounted to Rp 402 trillion. The
amount increased to Rp 505 trillion in 2008 and Rp 545 trillion in 2009.

“We are confident that Indonesians will choose local products over Chinese products,” Thomas
said.

According to Thomas, preference for local products is also indicated by the reduced volume of imported food and beverages. In 2008, imports were worth $1,95 billion, and decreased to $1,90 billion in 2009 and $1,2 billion in 2010.