Indonesia Records US$ 1.96 Billion Trade Surplus in January

President Joko Widodo inaugurates the release of exports to the Global Market. Photo by: Press Bureau of Presidential Secretariat.

Indonesia has reported US$1.96 billion trade surplus in January this year, the highest monthly surplus since January 2014.

“Indonesia’s foreign trade balance continues the monthly surplus trend that has been reported since May last year. In January 2021, the trade balance recorded a surplus of US$1.96 billion,” Minister of Trade Muhammad Lutfi said, Friday (26/02).

According to Lutfi, commodities contributing to the January surplus were animal / vegetable fats and oils (HS 15), mineral fuels (HS 27), and footwear (HS 64) with the main trading partner countries contributing to the non-oil and gas surplus being the United States, India, the Philippines, Japan, and Malaysia.

“Indonesia’s trade balance surplus in January 2021 is better than that of January 2019 with a deficit of US$1.0 billion and that of January 2020 with a deficit of US$0.6 billion,” he said, adding that the surplus shows an improvement in the trade balance due to an increase in exports that is higher than the imports.

Lutfi went on to say that Indonesia’s export in January 2021 reached US$15.3 billion, a 12-percent increase compared to that in the same month in the previous year (year-on-year).

The non-oil and gas exports in January 2021, he added, increased by 12.5 percent year-on-year and the value of non-oil and gas exports in January 2021 was higher than the non-oil and gas exports in the same period during the last five years.

The Minister further said that Indonesia’s import value in January 2021 stood at US$ 13.34 billion or decreased by 7.59 percent compared to the import value in December 2020, adding that Indonesia’s imports in January 2021 was mainly driven by a 9-percent drop in non-oil and gas imports.

“Based on the category of use of goods, the drop in imports of Indonesia this January occurred in all categories. The deepest import contraction occurred in imports of capital goods, which fell 21.23 percent month-on-month and a decline in imports of consumer goods and raw /auxiliary materials by 17 percent and 2.62 percent month-on-month,” the Minister said. (PR of Ministry of Trade/UN) (RI/EP)