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anjarmasin: South Kalimantan’s exports have shown the highest increase among all provinces, reaching 26.5 percent last year, far higher than the national average of only 8 to 12.5 percent per year.

The head of the foreign trade division of the South Kalimantan industry and trade office, Gusti Yasni Iqbal, said in Banjarmasin on Tuesday that the province’s performance was predicted to increase further in 2011.

“In the first quarter of this year alone, exports from the province reached more than 55 percent of the set target of US$7.3 billion,” Gusti said as quoted by Antara news agency.

Nationally, export growth has been forecast at 12.5 percent, and in that context he said his office was optimistic that the target would be reached before the end of the third quarter.

Even though South Kalimantan’s export growth is quite high compared to that in other provinces like Java and Sumatra, South Kalimantan’s exports rank only seventh because industrial growth and technological development of industry in South Kalimantan still lag far behind those of Java and other provinces.