The Determinant of Indonesian Cocoa Export Growth to the Main Export Destination Countries

Indonesia remains the sixth largest cocoa producer globally. As global cocoa demand and consumption increase, it is imperative that leading cocoa-producing countries, including Indonesia, capitalize on this trend. To facilitate informed future decisions, Indonesia must identify the key drivers of growth for its cocoa bean exports. This study analyses the factors influencing the growth of Indonesia's cocoa bean exports to top five export destinations by volume of Indonesian cocoa bean exports, namely Malaysia, America, India, China, and the Netherlands, using panel data (cross section and time series) analysis. The study found that the growth of Indonesia's cocoa bean exports was significantly (p-value > α) impacted by four variables, namely the export volume of cocoa beans (0.000), Indonesia's GDP (0.002), economic distance (0.041), and the population of export destination countries (0.059). On the other hand, the variables such as GDP of export destination countries, production, productivity, exchange rates, prices of world cocoa beans, harvested area, and domestic cocoa bean prices did not demonstrate any noteworthy impact on the exports. The policy implications of the findings is the results of this study can inform that sustainable cocoa bean export development has great economic potential in the competitive global marketplace, if the Indonesian government wants to increase cocoa bean production centres, a collaborative strategy is needed, especially among stakeholders to support sustainable cocoa bean export development. The contribution of this research is to find sustainable practices in the cocoa industry, especially in improving global trade competitiveness, in terms of determinants