PALMOILMAGAZINE, JAKARTA – In August 2024, Indonesia’s exports reached a record high of $23.56 billion, the highest level in the past 20 months since December 2022. This achievement highlights the country’s resilience amid global economic challenges.
Bara Khrisna Hasibuan, Special Staff of the Minister of Trade in International Trade Agreements, emphasized the positive impact of this export figure on Indonesia’s trade balance during a press conference at the Ministry of Trade.
“This is remarkable, especially considering the uncertain global economy. We hope that Indonesia’s exports will continue to rise,” he stated in an official release to Palmoilmagazine.com on September 25, 2024.
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Accompanied by Fajarini Puntodewi, Head of the Badan Kebijakan Perdagangan (BKPerdag), and Ari Satria, Secretary of BKPerdag, Hasibuan noted that August exports saw a significant increase compared to July 2024, which totaled $22.24 billion. The trade surplus for August 2024 rose to $2.9 billion, a substantial improvement from the $0.5 billion surplus recorded in July.
Non-oil and gas Exports Were The Main Contributor
August 2024 exports got increased 5,97 percent to those in the previous month (month on month/MoM) and escalated 7,13 percent to August 2023 (year on year/YoY). This happened for the increasing non-oil and gas exports that reached 7,43 percent even though the oil and gas exports got decreased 15,41 percent.
Hasibuan explained that non-oil and gas sectors got increased in many lines. The highest sector was in mining that increased 9,01 percent, followed by the agriculture (8,70 percent) and processed industries (7,09 percent). Some main commodities got increased their exports such as, tin and its derivtives, metal ore, footwear, machine and mechanical tools.
On the other hand, some commodities got decreasing exports, such as, goods from iron and steel that reached 24,26 percent, precious metals and jewelry that reached 11,88 percent.
China and the United States of America were still the main exports for non-oil and gas products from Indonesia with the total exports to the two reaching US$ 7,94 billion or about 35,5 percent from the total non-oil and gas exports. Even though the two countries got slow increasing economy, non-oil and gas exports from Indonesia to the two got increased 10,42 percent and 20,80 percent for each.
The increasing exports from Indonesia took place in some countries, such as, Egypt (115,26 percent), Turkey (40,39 percent), and South Africa (36,99 percent). From the regions, North Africa, North Europe, and Central America significantly got the increasing non-oil and gas exports.
Trade Balance Remained Surplus
The surplus trade balance of Indonesia in August 2024 reached US$ 2,9 billion, with the surplus non-oil and gas that reached US$ 4,34 billion and oil and gas deficit reached US$ 1,44 billion. In cumulative, from January to August 2024, Indonesia got surplus about US$ 18,85 billion, continued the surplus trend for the past 52 months in a row since May 2020.
Hasibuan was optimist, the exports from Indonesia would be getting better for conducting trade expo Indonesia (TEI) in October 2024. “We do believe that TEI would be the significant moment to encourage exports and reinforce product competition nationally,” he said. (P2)
