Indonesia expects fishery exports up to $5bn

Indonesian Fishery and Marine Ministry forecast fishery exports will rise to 5 billion U.S. dollars this year from 3.28 billion U.S. dollars last year despite slowing global economy, an official said here Wednesday. Indonesian Fishery and Marine Minister Syarif Cicip Sutardjo said that the shipment of the fishery products has shown a good trend in recent months. Meanwhile, the ministry has expanded export markets to the Middle East and Africa, he said. \"This year we expect the export to increase partly because of the opening of new market to Africa and the Middle East,\"Syarif was quoted by Kontan online, one of leading news portals in the country, as saying. Indonesia enjoyed trade surplus in fishery sector last year as its import value reached 520 million U.S. dollars, he said.