Prospects And Challenges of Indonesia’s Export Under the RCEP: Measuring the Competitiveness of Indonesian Agriculture Product in China’s Market

Abstract

Indonesia is one of the world largest producers of agricultural products. Indonesian agricultural commodities, such as coffee and cocoa, are of the highest quality in the world. This paper aims to analyze the competitiveness of Indonesian agricultural products and specifically coffee and cocoa products in China’s market under the RCEP agreements. The RCEP agreement is intended to increase the bilateral connection between Indonesia and China, improve Indonesia's trade balance, and open up new channels for the flow of goods between Indonesia and China. This study examines the prospects and challenges of Indonesian competitiveness of agricultural products in China’s market from 2012 to 2021 by measuring export performance using the Revealed Comparative Advantage (RCA) analysis and Trade Competitiveness (TC) methodologies. Secondary data acquired from UN comtrade, Trademap, and other supporting data from the official website are used in this research. The results of RCA and TC analysis show that Indonesian agricultural products and specifically coffee and cocoa products are competitive. However, there are some ups and downs in export and import. In conclusion, Indonesian agricultural products have good prospects under the RCEP to expand more in China’s market.