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Indonesia achieves high surplus despite lower exports of CPO, iron and steel
On a monthly basis, the trade surplus is lower than the previous month, due to a downward trend in exports for the past five months.
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Going international: A worker carries out maintenance on July 15, 2022 at Belawan International Container Terminal in Medan, North Sumatra. (Antara/Fransisco Carolio)
Indonesia's trade surplus in January quadrupled compared with the same period last year, exceeding forecasts from analysts.
According to a Statistics Indonesia (BPS) press briefing on Wednesday, the country posted a US$3.87 billion surplus last month, extending a long streak of positive trade balances since May 2020.
The figure is higher than forecasts by research firm Moody’s Analytics and a Reuters’ poll of $3.2 billion and $3.35 billion, respectively.
Both exports and imports grew annually, with exports soaring by 16.37 percent year on year (yoy) to $22.31 billion, but imports only inched up by 1.27 percent yoy to $18.44 billion.
Read also: US main contributor to Indonesia’s biggest-ever trade surplus
Coal shipments, which comprised most of the mineral fuel group, more than doubled (up by 242 percent) yoy to $4.25 billion in January, thanks to soaring coal prices, BPS said.
However, shipments of crude palm oil (CPO) saw a 2.54 percent yoy dip to $2.3 billion, while iron and steel dropped by more than 5.7 percent yoy to $2.1 billion, as international prices for both commodities declined, BPS said.
