Banun Harpini, Director General of Barantan was speech in export launching ceremony in cargo warehouse in Cengkareng, Banten, on January 18 (doc. bbkpsh)  

On Thursday (January 18) became a historic day for farmers and mangosteen exporters of  Indonesia after the exotic fruit was declared legally entered China from Jakarta, with initial export launch a ton of mangosteen from Soekarno - Hatta International Airport by Agung Mustika Selaras Corp., while the process of  sorting and supervision was supervised  by quarantine officers from Soekarno - Hatta Agricultural Quarantine Office or BBKPSH.
Director General of Indonesian Agricultural Quarantine Agency (Barantan - Badan Karantina Pertanian, Kementrian Pertanian),  Banun Harpini said the last five years of Indonesian mangosteen illegal entry into the People’s Republic of China (China), whereas mangosteen is favored by Chinese citizens and found many Indonesian mangosteen in China.
“They ban imports from Indonesia but take from Malaysia, Vietnam, Thailand so that the value added is an intermediary country, not Indonesia,” Mrs Harpini said in her speech in export launching ceremony in SHIA Cengkareng, Banten (January 18).
According to her, the mangosteen for export to China from Subang district, West Java province and packed in a packing house registered by the ministry of agriculture.
“The process of sorting and packing under our strict supervision, to ensure the unavailability of plant pest organisms (OPT - organisme pengganggu tumbuhan) such as white fleas, ants and other insects,” she said.
The process of oversight before packaging through quarantine treatment is washed with disinfectant, brushing water, and packed in paper-covered baskets and wrapped in plastic, to ensure no re-infestation by insects  during flight to China.

Five years  of discrimination
Indonesia´s mangosteen export opportunity directly to China is open after 5 years of discrimination, and reported by the agriculture ministry via Barantan to the World Trade Organization (WTO) in Geneva, Switzerland on 27-28 October 2016.
“Long and Strict negotiations must be taken by Indonesia, and finally last year, on December 11, 2017, Indonesia and China´s agricultural quarantine authorities (AQSIQ - The General Administration of Quality Supervision,  Inspection and Quarantine of the People’s Republic of China) signed the mangosteen protocol agreement, following the Swiftlet Nest protocol, and Salak which first exports directly to China,” Mrs Harpini said.
She expects the initial export launch to be followed by other exporters (fresh fruits and vegetables, live animals, etc.) to meet administrative and technical requirements as stated in the agreed  protocol, and China needs 2,000 tons for harvest season in 2018.
The important thing of the mangosteen export protocol to China is that land and mangosteen containers have been registered, and declared free of fruit flies, mealy bugs, and scale insects.