Jakarta, Dec. 11 -- Trade Minister Budi Santoso has emphasized that downstreaming spices is a strategic step to transform Indonesia's advantage from comparative to competitive, allowing the country's spices to compete in the global market.

He said relying solely on comparative advantage from raw spices would leave Indonesia unable to compete with major spice producers such as India and China.

"If our advantage is only comparative, we cannot surpass India and China," Santoso said in a statement here on Thursday.

Therefore, the Ministry of Trade welcomed the launch of the 2025-2045 Spice Roadmap initiated by the Ministry of National Development Planning (Bappenas). Target commodities in the roadmap include nutmeg, pepper, clove, cinnamon...