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RI narrowly holds onto trade surplus as exports fall, imports rise
Indonesia's February trade balance saw its weakest surplus since last May.
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Daily workload: Containers are loaded onto a vessel at the Pelindo II Port in Tanjung Priok, North Jakarta, on Nov. 15, 2022. (Antara/Muhammad Adimaja)
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ndonesia’s trade surplus fell to its lowest level in recent months as exports plunged and imports surged in February, according to data released by Statistics Indonesia (BPS) on Friday.
The country’s trade surplus hovered at US$870 million in February, marking the 46th consecutive month that the balance was positive, acting BPS head Amalia Adininggar Widyasanti said in a press briefing on Friday.
However, it was the lowest since May last year’s $430 million, which was already the lowest in 37 months.
According to BPS, Indonesia’s exports plunged 9.45 percent year-on-year (yoy) to $19.31 billion.
The country’s main export products such as crude palm oil (CPO), iron and steel and coal saw their values drop by 39.6 percent, 22.1 percent and 18.7 percent, respectively, compared with the same period in the previous year, the same data also show.
“The drop in demand for CPO was caused by the opening of new trade channels for alternative products, such as sunflower oil, which made the price drop. Aside from that, China and India also still have high levels of CPO stock,” Amalia explained.
Read also: Weaker consumption, exports bite Indonesia's 2023 economic growth
