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View all search resultsImport surge, export slowdown shrink trade surplus in January
Shipments of crude palm oil (CPO) surged 59.6 percent in January, while coal and steel exports declined by 16.04 percent and 0.13 percent, respectively.
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A small fishing boat sails on the waters near the New Prior Container Terminal One (NPCT1) on Aug. 20, 2024, in Cilincing, Jakarta. Indonesia enjoyed a US$470-million surplus in trade balance in July, with $22.21 billion in exports and $21.74 billion in imports. (Antara/Aprillio Akbar)
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ndonesia’s trade surplus narrowed sharply to US$954.3 million in January, as a surge in imports outweighed modest export growth, underscoring mounting domestic demand for raw materials, capital goods and energy.
Data from Statistics Indonesia (BPS) showed that the January surplus was significantly lower than the $2.51 billion recorded in December 2025.
BPS official Ateng Hartono said the weaker surplus was driven mainly by a rise in imports, which jumped 18.21 percent year-on-year (yoy) to $21.2 billion, far outpacing the 3.39 percent growth in exports.
“The year-on-year increase in imports was mainly driven by higher non-oil and gas shipments,” Ateng said at a press briefing on Monday, noting that non-oil and gas imports reached $18.04 billion in January, up 16.71 percent from a year earlier.
Ateng said the three largest non-oil and gas import commodities in January were electrical machinery, mechanical machinery and plastics and plastic products, which together accounted for 37.54 percent of total non-oil and gas imports.
Another sector that saw a significant surge was aircraft, spacecraft and parts thereof, which rose nearly fourteenfold to $483 million in January from just $34.8 million in the same period last year.
China accounted for 43.75 percent of total non-oil and gas imports, or $7.89 billion, followed by Australia at $1.07 billion and Japan at $946 million. Meanwhile, imports from the United States were down by 7.8 percent to $703.8 million.
