Java Bite wants to go to America!

The island of Java is home to a lot of tropical fruit - mangos, pineapples, papaya, bananas, etc.  The continent of North America?  Not so much.

It's no surprise that the US doesn't produce a whole lot of tropical fruit products.  American farmers busy themselves with crops like corn, soybeans, wheat, etc.  So, America looks to the rest of the world to provide products made with exotic fruit.

Figure 2 shows that US imports of mangos, guavas and mangosteen have increased dramatically.  Countries like the Philippines and Thailand export a lot of these products to the US.  Indonesia hasn't been a very prominent player.  But that hasn't stopped us from being the first to ship dried mangos from Indonesia to the US.  Java Bite dried mangos from Indonesia are available right now in the US.  In fact, you can get them RIGHT HERE!

But why stop with dried mangos?  Java Bite wants to send pineapple products, too!  Figure 3 shows the substantial increase of US pineapple imports, mainly from Thailand.

Although Java Bite dried pineapple has been marketed in Indonesia for several years, those products have yet to make an appearance in the US.  But perhaps that may change in the near future.

And what about dried papaya?  And dried bananas?  Like dried pineapple, those Java Bite products have never made it out of Indonesia.  Java Bite wants to live in America and bring the whole family, too!

Create an account and sign up for our newsletter to find out when will be the next shipment to the US and which Java Bite products will be included in the shipment.  We will let you know when the other family members arrive.

Reversing the Trend

In 1776 Adam Smith stated what everyone believed at the time to be an irrefutable fact.

"Rich and civilized nations can always exchange to a much greater value with one another, than with savages and barbarians."

It made sense.  And it implied that trade would happen almost exclusively among the rich.

Indeed fifteen years of liberalized trade policies in Indonesia reinforce the notion that low-income, remote households are excluded from international trade.  Figure 1 shows that the exports from small- and medium-sized enterprises have diminished.  Specifically, the share of exports in the gross domestic product of Indonesia's small and medium enterprises have trended from low (9%) to lower (3.5%).

This matter motivated the President of Indonesia, Joko Widodo, to implore the diplomatic corps to promote abroad products made by small enterprises in Indonesia.  Apparently, the President would like to reverse the trend.

So, when the Indonesian embassy in Washington, DC wanted to include Java Bite products in their pavilion at the Summer Fancy Food Show, we accepted their invitation to participate!

If you happen to be in New York City, June 28-30, please visit our booth!

Java Bite products began with the motivation to train and equip village residents to produce export-quality dried fruit products.  Village-made products will find their way into the hands of folks in New York City.  Resource Exchange International, Inc. is proud to have created opportunities where none existed before.   I think Adam Smith would be proud too.