JAKARTA (XINHUA) – Indonesia recorded a deep export decline of 21.21 per cent year-on-year to USD22.00 billion in August, according to Statistics Indonesia (BPS) on Friday.
Exports of leading commodities such as coal contracted 48.91 per cent year-on-year, and palm oil minus 35.23 per cent, as did iron and steel, although they only fell 0.96 per cent.
“Cumulatively, the value of Indonesia’s exports from January to August reached USD171.52 billion or a decrease of 11.85 per cent compared to the same period last year,” said BPS Acting Head Amalia Widyasanti at a press conference. Primarily, non-oil and gas export destinations in August were China, the United States, and India, with the contribution of the three reaching 45.20 per cent of the total.
Meanwhile, the value of imports in August was recorded at USD18.88 billion, down 14.77 per cent compared to the same month last year.
Due to all these developments, Indonesia recorded a trade balance of USD3.12 billion that month, its 40th consecutive month of surplus.
