JAKARTA - Indonesia is working to resume exports of farmed pangasius catfish to Saudi Arabia for its Hajj pilgrims, the Ministry of Marine Affairs and Fisheries (KKP) said on February 19, with negotiations underway but no permit yet secured from Saudi regulators.

Ishartini, head of the KKP's Quality Control and Monitoring Agency, said at a press conference in Jakarta that the ministry had joined an inter-agency team under Coordinating Minister for Food Affairs Zulkifli Hasan to push the initiative forward. 

Talks are ongoing with the Saudi Food and Drug Authority (SFDA), and Indonesia says it has already met all regulatory requirements. "We are currently negotiating with the SFDA to allow aquaculture fish products to enter. We have not yet received approval, but all the requirements that have been asked of us have been met," she said.

Pangasius is the fish most frequently served to pilgrims in Makkah alongside meat, chicken, and eggs, according to Machmud, the KKP's acting Director General for Strengthening Competitiveness of Marine and Fisheries Products. For a season serving around 200,000 Indonesian pilgrims, the estimated volume needed is 600 to 700 tons. 

Indonesia first entered this market in 2019, shipping its initial containers of pangasius to Saudi Arabia after the SFDA suspended all seafood imports from Vietnam in January 2018 following an inspection that found white spot disease and acute hepatopancreatic necrosis at Vietnamese shrimp and pangasius processing facilities. 

Machmud said Indonesia exported more than 300 tons of pangasius for the Hajj season that year. Covid then halted those shipments, and by September 2020 Saudi Arabia had begun allowing 12 Vietnamese companies to resume exports, gradually restoring Vietnam's position in the market. 

The country has also previously secured Saudi approval to export domestic rice for this year's Hajj season. 

State logistics firm Bulog is preparing to ship 2,280 tons of premium-grade rice for this year's Hajj season after securing Saudi approval, with up to 3,000 tons in reserve. Indonesian pilgrims had previously been served rice sourced from Vietnam and Thailand. The fish initiative was first raised by Hajj and Umrah Minister Mochamad Irfan Yusuf at a DPR working session on February 10.

Indonesia's 2026 Hajj quota stands at 221,000 pilgrims, comprising 203,320 regular pilgrims and 17,680 special fast-track pilgrims. The country's aquaculture sector produced 15.75 million tons in 2024, led by 9.85 million tons of seaweed, followed by 1.56 million tons of tilapia, 1.15 million tons of catfish, 792,864 tons of milkfish, 523,796 tons of goldfish, and 381,969 tons of pangasius.