Pharmaceutical manufacturers are required to find alternative suppliers of raw materials and support materials to ensure halal product. Vincent Harijanto, Head of Research and Development of Trade and Industrial Raw Materials of the Association of Indonesian Pharmaceutical Enterprises (GP Pharmaceuticals), said that many manufacturers rely on imported raw materials. Vincent said in an effort to ensure halal raw materials, manufacturers find it difficult to track up to the upstream.

President Joko Widodo stated that the number of goods entering into the restricted ban category (lartas) has been reduced to 2,200 HS codes from the previous 5,000 HS codes. Nevertheless, the President said that number is still too much. The reduction of lartas information to 2,200 HS codes was obtained when Jokowi asked the Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs Darmin Nasution about how many lartas had been cut.

The decision to import salt for the industry of 3.7 million tonnes this year is feared will make excessive stocks, which could eventually drop the price of salt farmers during harvest. Judging from the salt balance prepared by the Central Bureau of Statistics survey in collaboration with the Ministry of Industry and the Ministry of Marine Affairs and Fisheries, this year's 1.8 million tons of salt supply comes from an initial stock of 349,505 tons and a national production of 1.5 million tons. The demand for this year is almost 4 million tons, which includes industrial demand of about 3.7 million tons and 313,848 tons of households.

Aprobi negotiates seriously with China to export large quantities of biodiesel following EU parliament's decision to halt biofuel use in 2021. Daily Chief of the Indonesian Biofuel Producers Association (Aprobi) Paulus Tjakrawan said China uses about 175 million kiloliters of renewable energy annually from used cooking oil . In the negotiations, China offers stable prices for 10 years. While Indonesia wants biodiesel prices to follow world market prices. "China has the potential to receive exports up to 9 million kiloliters per year from Indonesia" Paul said.

The Government will clarify the rules on the rules on non SNI toys that enter from abroad. The plan, this beleid will allow passengers to bring a maximum of five units of toys per person. Meanwhile, the toys that enter through the delivery service are only allowed a maximum of three units within a period of 30 days. The discussion on the rules of toys without SNI is some days rampant in social media when Faiz Ahmad, one of the consumers, can not issue toys from abroad that are detained at Bengkulu Customs because they are not equipped with Indonesian National Standard (SNI).

San Francisco is about to require brick-and-mortar retailers to take cash as payment, joining Philadelphia and New Jersey in banning a growing paperless practice that critics say discriminates against low-income people who may not have access to credit cards.

US President Donald Trump hopes Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will work to reduce US trade deficit with Japan.

Tokyo police have arrested a man in his 50s in connection with knives left on the school desk of Prince Hisahito, the grandson of Emperor Akihito.

North Korea's parliament has re-elected the country's leader Kim Jong Un as chairman of the State Affairs Commission and chosen a new premier.

Arsenal closed in on the Europa League semifinals with a 2-0 home win over Italy's Napoli on Thursday while Chelsea scored late to earn a 1-0 victory at Slavia Prague.

The South Florida Sun Sentinel and the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette won Pulitzer Prizes on Monday and were recognized along with the Capital Gazette of Maryland for their coverage of the horrifying mass shootings in 2018 at a high school, a synagogue and a newsroom itself.

U.S. Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue on Thursday sought a "very quick agreement" with Japan on tariff cuts for agricultural goods as part of efforts to reach a bilateral trade deal.