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Indonesia posts record trade surplus, exports in August
While the domestic economic recovery may be slower than hoped, Indonesia is benefiting from rising activity in other countries, leading to a trade surplus that far exceeds expectations.
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Good to go: New cars ready for export are parked at Jakarta's Tanjung Priok Port on April 8, 2020. (Antara/Aditya Pradana Putra)
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trong exports have handed Indonesia a record-breaking trade surplus as global commodity prices rallied and export-oriented manufacturers took advantage of eased mobility restrictions.
At US$4.74 billion, the trade surplus in August was the highest ever recorded by Statistics Indonesia (BPS), which logs the data since 1993. It is also more than twice as high as a year earlier, when imports plunged.
The BPS data published on Wednesday also show that exports reached an all-time high at $21.42 billion, up 64.1 percent from August 2020. The surge in exports was driven in large part by higher commodity prices, especially for coal and palm oil, Indonesia’s main export goods.
“Both volumes and prices have increased,” BPS head Margo Yuwono said in an online press conference on Wednesday. “[Exports] are high because of palm oil and coal, which are rising in price.”
From August to September, the country’s benchmark coal price rose by another 14.53 percent to a decade-high of $150.03 per ton, according to the Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry, which bodes well for upcoming trade reports.
Rising coal prices have vastly improved the financial performance of mining firms. Publicly listed Bumi Resources, the country’s largest coal miner, booked nearly $1.9 million in net profit in the first six months of the year, reversing a net loss of $86.1 million recorded a 2020.
Read also: Decade-high coal prices drive strong H1 mining performance
