Indonesia will be affected by the European crisis at the early 2012, signaled by declining exports toward those countries. This statement was given by the Chairman of the Agricultural Primary Industries Development Adhi S Lukman. “The European crisis to be quite frank has not yet affected Indonesia directly. Nevertheless, we have to stay alarmed because the effect is somehow can be silent yet deadly. What we can see is now exchange rate (of Rupiah against other currencies) is wobbling a little but in general it is still save,” so as he told.

European crisis is somehow more dangerous that the U.S. crisis. This is because the U.S.A is only one united country while Euro consists of numerous countries. The rumor is that if the crisis continues some countries choose to step out from the Euro. This will cause a great disturbance on the stability of the Europe as a whole. Trade activities will be affected thus Indonesian trade contracts with some of countries in Europe. Usually trade agreements last between 3 to 6 months thus if Euro becomes instable both economically and politically Indonesia will also be affected. Currently, Adhi stated that trade activities are only completing the remaining contracts; those will be renewed in early 2012. Adhi suspected that this heavy crisis attacking Euro will cause significant export decline. The biggest commodities exported from Indonesia to Europe are food and beverages with a value around 500 million USD.

The logical strategy is for Indonesia to look for alternative market outside Europe in order to stabilize its export volume. Maybe Indonesia should start to set eyes on its surroundings, Asian countries. Besides, there are several countries that Indonesia has had the FTA agreement and the upcoming is with India. Further than that, Indonesia should also start to develop its trade agreements and activities with Middle East to support its exports.