Strategic policies for increasing the competitive powers of Indonesian horticultural products in ASEAN markets

The objectives of this study were to: (1) analyse the competitiveness of indonesian fruits featured in asean markets,(2) understand the marketing distribution of featured fruits from indonesia,(3) analyse the policies and the strategies of the indonesian government in relation to horticultural products,and (4) suggest a bill aimed at increasing the competitive power of indonesian featured fruits. the revealed comparative advantage (rca) and the specialized trade index (sti) show that there are five indonesian featured fruits that possess good competitiveness,namely avocadoes,mangoes,mangosteens,watermelons and melons. the intra-industry trade (iit) index shows that bananas,watermelons,melons and durians are good for imperfect market competition due to the existence of greater returns to scale. the iit also shows that avocadoes,mangoes and mangosteens are more suitable for perfect market competition,where the abundance of a product constitutes a very important factor,and trading is mainly determined by comparative superiority. further,this research found three patterns of marketing distribution for these featured fruits: (1) farmer - consumer,(2) farmer - trader - outlet - consumer,and (3) farmer - distributor - outlet - consumer. this study also found that continuous supply of indonesian featured fruits very uncertain,and suggestions have been made to increase r & d. finally,it recommended that the indonesian government develop integrated and efficient production centres for the distribution of these featured fruits. such production centres might then reinforce institutionalisation at the level of farmers. © 2016 universiti putra malaysia press.