Minister Of Trade Budi: Garlic Imports To Cars Rise In March 2025

Minister of Trade Budi Santoso (Photo: Antara)

JAKARTA - Minister of Trade (Mendag) Budi Santoso said imports of consumer goods such as garlic, apples, oranges, colored monitors, and electric cars experienced a significant increase in March 2025.

Furthermore, Budi said that in March 2025, imports of consumer goods increased by 18.73 percent each on a monthly basis.

"Consumption goods that are imported have increased significantly, including garlic, apples, oranges, colored monitors, and electric cars," Budi said in an official statement, Thursday, April 24.

Meanwhile, continued Budi, the high imports of capital goods were sorting machines, heating machines, computers, aircraft, and tankers. On the other hand, imports of raw materials and assistants that fell were wheat, soybeans, sugar cane, bary coal, and pipes.

"Imports of capital goods increased by 7.28 percent (MOM). On the other hand, imports of raw and auxiliary materials actually decreased by 3.27 percent (MOM)," he said.

Therefore, continued Budi, the performance of imports in March 2025 is still dominated by raw and auxiliary materials with a share of 71.23 percent, followed by capital goods 19.56 percent and consumer goods 9.21 percent.

Overall, Indonesia's imports were recorded at 18.92 billion US dollars. This value is up 0.38 percent compared to February 2025 (MoM) and up 5.34 percent compared to March 2024 (YoY).

When compared to February 2025, the increase in imports in March 2025 only occurred in the oil and gas sector by 9.07 percent, while non-oil and gas imports fell by 1.18 percent (MOM). On an annual basis, non-oil and gas imports rose by 7.91 percent, while oil and gas imports fell 5.98 percent (YoY)," he explained.

Some of the non-oil and gas import products with the highest increase in March 2025 include fruits (HS 08) which rose 56.63 percent; fertilizers (HS 31) rose 46.06 percent; paper, cartons, and other goods (HS 48) rose 29.12 percent; knitted fabrics (HS 60) rose 23.69 percent; and the grounds and rest of the food industry (HS 23) rose 14.60 percent (MoM).

Based on the country of origin, Indonesia's non-oil and gas imports are dominated by China, Japan, and Thailand with a total share of 52.21 percent of the total non-oil and gas imports in March 2025.

Some of the non-oil and gas import countries with the highest increase were Ivory Coast which rose 357.70 percent, South Africa 206.68 percent, Sweden 76.13 percent, France 68.29 percent, and the UK 40.35 percent (MOM), "he said.

Cumulatively for the period January to March 2025, total imports reached 55.71 billion US dollars, up 1.47 percent (CtC). The increase in imports was triggered by non-oil and gas imports which rose by 2.91 percent, but oil and gas imports fell by 5.85 percent (CtC).