Indonesia's exports grow, but still not out of woods
JAKARTA - Indonesia's exports to Japan and China, the country’s traditional main markets, recorded positive growth in February from the month before, but accumulatively still recorded a decline year-to-date for the first two months of the year.
According to Central Statistics Agency (BPS) data, exports to Japan rose by 5.3 per cent to US$1.11 billion last month from $1.05 billion in January, while exports to China increased 6.6 per cent to $945 million from $886 million in January.
"Exports to Japan and China have shown an improvement, an increase on a monthly basis," BPS head Suryamin said at a press conference in Jakarta on Tuesday.
However, accumulative export figures from the first two months of 2016 showed that Indonesia’s trade performance was still weak compared with the same period of 2015. Exports to Japan in January-February, at $2.16 billion, marked a 5.4 per cent decrease from the same month last year, while exports to China at $1.83 billion recorded a 9.65 per cent decline.
Japan is Indonesia's second-biggest export destination, with an 11 percent market share, followed by China at 9.37 per cent. The United States, Indonesia's biggest export market, has a 12.15 share.
The agency’s data showed that exports to the US in February dropped 6.8 percent month-on-month to $1.15 billion from $1.23 billion. Accumulatively, January-February exports to the US were down too, by 3 per cent to $2.38 billion compared with last year’s $2.45 billion.
In total, non-oil and gas exports in February were worth $10.19 billion, an increase of 8.67 per cent from $9.37 billion in January. Nevertheless, on a year-to-date basis, January-February exports were down 9.89 per cent to $19.56 billion from last year's $21.7 billion.
Indonesia exports to the US, Japan and China were mainly textile and textile products, electronics, rubber and rubber derivatives, palm oil, forest products, footwear, automotive products, shrimps, cocoa and coffee. Seventeen of Indonesia’s total 24 commodities experienced an increase in February, Suryamin said.
