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RI foreign trade shows no sign of slowing down
Indonesia’s imports and exports reached all-time highs in August as an unprecedented volume of commodity sales cast hope on a nation battling rising fuel prices.
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Fruits of labor: An oil palm plantation worker transports oil palm fruits with a wheelbarrow in Rantau Bais village, Rokan Hilir regency, Riau, on March 8. ASEAN and the European Union have returned to the negotiating table to discuss Europe’s resistance to palm oil. (Antara/Aswaddy Hamid)
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ndonesia’s import and export performance broke an all-time record in August due to the unprecedented volume of commodities sold, casting a positive outlook on the economy as the nation battles to subdue the effects of subsidized fuel price hikes.
Statistics Indonesia (BPS) reported on Thursday that August’s exports rose 30.15 percent year-on-year (yoy) to US$27.91 billion, topping the previous record of $27.32 billion in April. Crude palm oil (CPO), metals and electrical machinery mainly supported the export growth.
Imports, meanwhile, were up 32.81 percent yoy to $22.15 billion, supported by mechanical and electrical machinery, signifying a robust manufacturing industry as the domestic purchasing managers' index (PMI) hit 51.7 points in the same month.
"The export performance of key commodities [...] is still in good condition due to an increase in the volume sold, even as [commodity] prices fall," BPS deputy head of distribution statistics and services Setianto said in a press briefing.
Read also: Trade surplus narrows on ‘ending’ commodity windfall
Consequently, Indonesia’s trade surplus in August managed to reach $5.76 billion, jumping 21 percent from the previous month’s $4.22 billion, while also marking 28 consecutive months of surplus.
Economists had their estimates beaten, with state-owned Bank Mandiri and financial research firm Moody’s Analytics predicting a $3.69 billion and $4.4 billion surplus, respectively.
