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Indonesia’s exports hit decade high in March as demand, prices pick up
The country's export value rose 30.47 percent yoy to US$18.35 billion in March, the highest since it reached $18.64 billion in August 2011.
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A container is unloaded onto trucks to be transported to a ship during the inauguration of a new international container export route from the port of Kuala Tanjung in Batubara regency, North Sumatra, on March 28, 2021. (JP/ Apriadi Gunawan)
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ndonesia’s export value in March hit its highest level since August 2011 as global economic activity rebounds, sustaining progress in the country’s trade recovery.
Statistics Indonesia (BPS) reported Thursday the export value rose 30.47 percent year-on-year (yoy) to US$18.35 billion in March, the highest level since the $18.64 billion booked in August 2011. On a monthly basis, the export value was up 20.31 percent.
“The rise in demand from various countries along with [price] increases in Indonesia’s main commodities had a large impact on the country’s export performance in March,” BPS head Suhariyanto said in a virtual briefing.
He gave the example of coal, kernel oil, palm oil, copper, aluminum and lead as major export commodities that saw strong price increases on a monthly basis.
The rise in exports followed the recovery trend that started in November last year as Indonesia’s main trading partners, such as China, re-emerged from the pandemic.
Two months into the pandemic, Indonesia’s exports and imports declined by 29.15 percent yoy and 42.23 percent yoy in May last year, respectively, the steepest declines in at least a decade, as the government imposed large-scale social restrictions (PSBB).
