ndonesia’s export performance continued to weaken last month due to the declining price of coal and plunging crude palm oil (CPO) export volume, according to Statistics Indonesia (BPS) data.
BPS official Pudji Ismartini said in a press briefing on Wednesday that exports were down by 10.43 percent year-on-year (yoy) to US$22.15 billion in October from $24.73 billion recorded in the same period of last year.
“This contraction was driven by declining non-oil and gas exports, continuing the trend that started early this year, which has mainly been caused by much lower commodity prices compared with last year,” said Pudji, referring to coal, palm oil and iron and steel, which are Indonesia’s top three export goods.
Coal exports plummeted by 38.02 percent yoy to $2.73 billion in October having previously logged at $4.41 billion in the same period last year.
Meanwhile, palm oil exports also nosedived to a mere $1.89 billion in October from $2.85 in the same period last year, translating to negative annual growth of 33.77 percent.
Only exports of iron and steel saw positive growth, at 5.76 percent month-to-month (mtm) and 6.65 percent yoy, with the commodity recording a value of $2.45 billion in October.
Pudji said the decline in export value was in line with falling commodity prices.
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