TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
Indonesia's export, trade surpluses hit record high again in October
Export and trade surpluses rose to a record level in October, supported by surging commodity prices, especially coal and crude palm oil.
Change Size
Export commodity: Workers load palm fruit bunches to be processed into crude palm oil and kernel for export at PT Indo Sawit Subur Riau’s factory in this file picture. (JP/Ricky Yudhistira)
I
ndonesia booked further record-high export and trade surpluses in October, bolstered once more by high coal and crude palm oil (CPO) prices, benefiting from a recovery in global trade.
Statistics Indonesia (BPS) reported on Monday that exports grew by 53.35 percent year-on-year (yoy) to US$22.03 billion in October. Similarly, imports rose by 51.06 percent to $16.29 billion from a year earlier.
This brought the trade surplus to stand at $5.73 billion in October, marking an increase of 60.06 percent from a year earlier.
“The largest contributor to the increase in exports is coal exports, followed by CPO and iron and steel,” BPS head Margo Yuwono said in a virtual press briefing. “Export volumes for these commodities also rose, meaning there was a rise in demand from our export destination countries.”
Indonesia has seen surging exports that have led to record-breaking trade surpluses several times during the pandemic, in part because of rising demand from major trading partners that have reemerged from lockdowns.
Read also: Exports, imports fall in September as trade slows down
Mining exports, which accounted for one-fifth of overall exports, posted the fastest growth at 190.57 percent yoy to $4.53 billion, in line with high commodity prices, especially coal. This was followed by oil and gas and manufacturing.
